Heterogeneity of the horizontal environment drives community assemblages and species coexistence of prokaryotic communities in cold seep sediments

1. Habitat heterogeneity affected the species coexistence and community assembly.2. CH4 was the key driving factor of prokaryotic community diversity and assembly.3. The assembly of prokaryotic communities were mainly stochastic processes.4. Bacteria and archaea showed different coexistence patterns in seepage area.