Bacterial and fungal distribution in distinct soil pore size classes

Our study sought to explore the physical controls of pore-scale soil structure and water distribution on bacteria and fungi: i.e., how pore-scale heterogeneity regulates microbial community structure and functioning. Specifically, the objective of this work was to ascertain how soil microbes of different life history strategies (i.e., copiotrophs vs oligotrophs) distributed across large and smaller soil pores. By exploring microbial responses to moisture change in pores of different sizes, we aimed to elucidate the patterns of trait-based microbial distribution at the pore scale. A bioinformatics tool, PICRUSt2 was also used to predict microbial functional distribution across pore size classes.本研究旨在探究孔隙尺度下土壤结构与水分分布对细菌和真菌的物理调控机制，即孔隙尺度异质性如何调控微生物群落的结构与功能。具体而言，本研究的核心目标是明确不同生活史策略的土壤微生物（即富营养微生物与寡营养微生物）在大、小土壤孔隙中的分布规律。通过探究不同尺寸孔隙内微生物对水分变化的响应，本研究旨在阐明孔隙尺度下基于功能性状的微生物分布模式。本研究还借助生物信息学工具PICRUSt2对不同孔隙尺寸类别下的微生物功能分布进行预测。