Total and active soil bacterial and fungal communities in soils of different pore size distribution

Soil pore size and arrangement control the heterogeneous distribution of soil nutrients, water, and air and therefore are a superimposed and integrated factor dictating the soil microbial community structure. It is known that soil with more large pores under low hydraulic connectivity can potentially harbor microbes of higher diversity. Still, understanding on how soil pore size distribution governs compositions and moreover associations of the microbial community is insufficient. This work examined the PSD effects on microbial community compositions and networking via marker gene high-throughput sequencing of both DNA and cDNA.