Data from: Integrating variation in bacterial-fungal co-occurrence network with soil carbon dynamics

Bacteria and fungi are core microorganisms in diverse ecosystems, and
their cross-kingdom interactions are considered key determinants of
microbiome structure and ecosystem functioning. However, how
bacterial-fungal interactions mediate soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics
remains largely unexplored in the context of artificial forest ecosystems.
Here, we characterized soil bacterial and fungal communities in four
successive planting of Eucalyptus and compared them to a neighboring
evergreen broadleaf forest. Carbon (C) mineralization combined with five
C-degrading enzymatic activities was investigated to determine the effects
of successive planting of Eucalyptus on SOC dynamics. Our results
indicated that successive planting of Eucalyptus significantly altered the
diversity and structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities and
increased the negative bacterial-fungal associations. The bacterial
diversity significantly decreased in all Eucalyptus plantations compared
to the evergreen forest, while the fungal diversity showed the opposite
trend. The ratio of negative bacterial-fungal associations increased with
successive planting of Eucalyptus due to the decrease in SOC, ammonia
nitrogen (NH4+−N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3−−N), and available phosphorus
(AP). Structural equation modeling indicated that the potential
cross-kingdom competition, based on the ratio of negative bacterial-fungal
correlations, was significantly negatively associated with the diversity
of total bacteria and keystone bacteria, thereby increasing C-degrading
enzymatic activities and C mineralization. Synthesis and applications: Our
results highlight the regulatory role of the negative bacterial-fungal
association in enhancing the correlation between bacterial diversity and C
mineralization. This suggests that promoting short-term successive
planting in the management of Eucalyptus plantations can mitigate the
impact of this association on SOC decomposition. Taken together, our study
advances the understanding of bacterial-fungal negative associations to
mediate carbon mineralization in Eucalyptus plantations, giving us a new
insight into SOC cycling dynamics in artificial forests.