Disturbance alters the forest soil microbiome

Billions of microorganisms perform critical below-ground functions in all terrestrial ecosystems. While largely invisible to the naked eye, they support all higher lifeforms, form symbiotic relationships with ~90% of terrestrial plant species, stabilize soils, and facilitate biogeochemical cycles. Global increases in the frequency of disturbances are driving major changes in the structure and function of forests. However, despite their functional significance, the disturbance responses of forest microbial communities are poorly understood. Here we explore the influence of disturbance on the soil microbiome (archaea, fungi and bacteria) of some of the world’s tallest and most carbon-dense forests, the Mountain Ash forests of southeastern Australia. From 80 sites, we identified 23,277 and 19,056 microbial operational taxonomic units from the 0-10 cm and 20-30 cm depths of soil respectively. From this extensive dataset, we found the diversity and composition of these often-cryptic communit...全球所有陆地生态系统中，数十亿计的微生物执行着关键的地下生态功能。尽管它们大多肉眼不可见，却支撑着所有高等生命的存续：与约90%的陆地植物物种形成共生关系、稳固土壤结构，并推动生物地球化学循环。全球范围内干扰事件发生频率的上升正促使森林的结构与功能发生重大改变。然而，尽管这些微生物具有重要的生态功能，学界对森林微生物群落的干扰响应机制仍知之甚少。本研究聚焦全球最高、固碳能力最强的森林之一——澳大利亚东南部的山灰森林，探讨干扰事件对其土壤微生物组（soil microbiome，包括古菌、真菌与细菌）的影响。我们从80个采样位点的0-10 cm与20-30 cm土层中，分别鉴定出23277个和19056个微生物操作分类单元（operational taxonomic units，OTU）。基于这一庞大的数据集，我们发现这些通常隐秘难察的群落的多样性与组成……