Salinity gradients drive shifts in rhizosphere salt regulation by halophytes and define thresholds of microbial network stability

The study area is located in the tail end of a typical inland river basin in the arid northwest of China. Based on the salt tolerance mechanisms and salinity distribution characteristics of the plants, this study selected eight representative native plants: (1) psammophytes: Artemisia desertorum Spreng. and Caragana korshinskii Kom.; (2) halophytes: Kalidium foliatum (Pall.) Moq. and Nitraria tangutorum Bobrov; (3) salt-secreting plants: Limonium aureum (L.) Hill. and Reaumuria songarica (Pall.) Maxim.; (4) salt-resistant plants: Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud and Lycium ruthenicum Murr. The soil physicochemical properties of these plants in the rhizosphere and bulk soil were analyzed and tested.