Contrasting elevational diversity patterns between eukaryotic soil microbes and plants. soil metagenome

The diversity of eukaryotic macro-organisms such as animals and plants usually declines with increasing elevation and latitude. By contrast, the community structure of prokaryotes such as soil bacteria does not generally correlate with elevation or latitude, suggesting that differences in fundamental cell biology and/or body-size strongly influence diversity patterns. To apart these factors apart, the community structure of eukaryotic micro-organisms was investigated in soils of six representative vegetation types along an elevational gradient from forest to alpine tundra on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China.