Coupling Effects of Seasonal Alternation and Tourism Disturbance: Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in Soil Bacterial Community Diversity and Network Stability in Karst Ecosystems

Under the synergistic pressures of global climate change and intensifying tourism development, karst tourism regions face escalating ecological stress from the coupling of tourism disturbance and climatic shifts. However, the combined impacts of these drivers on soil ecosystems in these sensitive zones remain poorly understood. To address this, our study focused on the Baicaoping Grassland Tourism Area, a representative karst region in Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Experimental plots with a gradient of tourism disturbance: Light (LD), Moderate (MD), and Severe (SD), along with undisturbed controls (ND), were sampled in winter and summer. Employing 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing integrated with analysis of ten key soil physicochemical properties, this research investigated the effects of tourism disturbance intensity on soil chemistry and bacterial community structure.