Humus microhabitat affects distributions of soil fungi and bacteria in a temperate mountain forest

Humus layer have an important effect on the diversity and spatial distribution of microbes. However, the role of partitioning of humus layer microhabitats for soil microbial diversity has been poorly documented. In this study, 120 soil samples were collected from a 5-ha forest dynamic monitoring sample plot in a deciduous broad-leaved forest. Clustering analysis was used to delineate microhabitats by humus layer. We explored diversity and community composition of soil fungi and bacteria using Illumina sequencing of the ITS rRNA gene and 16S rRNA gene region on the MiSeq platform. We investigated the diversity, species composition and the microhabitat preferences of fungi and bacteria, and then analyzed the effects of environmental factors on soil fungi and bacteria. Our results showed that the diversity, species composition and the indicator species of the fungal and bacterial community varied among different humus layer microhabitats. In network analysis, the specialization indexes sho...