Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands

The soil microbial community plays a crucial role in the elemental cycling and energy flow within wetland ecosystems. The temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities are central topics in ecology. While numerous studies have focused on wetland microbial community structu...

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Main Authors: Huiyuan Wang, Yue Li, Xiaoqin Yang, Bin Niu, Hongzhe Jiao, Ya Yang, Guoqiang Huang, Weiguo Hou, Gengxin Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Microorganisms
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/5/962
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author Huiyuan Wang
Yue Li
Xiaoqin Yang
Bin Niu
Hongzhe Jiao
Ya Yang
Guoqiang Huang
Weiguo Hou
Gengxin Zhang
author_facet Huiyuan Wang
Yue Li
Xiaoqin Yang
Bin Niu
Hongzhe Jiao
Ya Yang
Guoqiang Huang
Weiguo Hou
Gengxin Zhang
author_sort Huiyuan Wang
collection DOAJ
description The soil microbial community plays a crucial role in the elemental cycling and energy flow within wetland ecosystems. The temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities are central topics in ecology. While numerous studies have focused on wetland microbial community structures at low altitudes, microbial diversity across seasons and depths and their environmental determinants remain poorly understudied. To test the seasonal variation in microbial communities with contrasting seasonal fluxes of greenhouse gases, a total of 36 soil samples were collected from different depths in the Namco wetland on the Tibetan Plateau across four seasons. We found significant seasonal variation in bacterial community composition, most pronounced in the Winter, but not in archaea. In particular, Proteobacteria decreased by 11.5% in Winter compared with other seasons (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The bacterial alpha diversity showed hump-shaped seasonal patterns with lower diversity in Winter, whereas archaea showed no significant patterns across depths. A PERMANOVA further revealed significant differences in the bacterial community structure between Winter and the other three seasons (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In addition, bacterial and archaeal community structures differed between surface (0–5 cm) and deeper (5–30 cm) soils (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Redundancy analysis showed that soil total nitrogen, soil total phosphorus, and total soil organic carbon significantly influenced bacteria and archaea (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Furthermore, soil moisture content and temperature strongly affected the bacterial community structure (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Our findings highlighted the seasonal variation in the microbial community and the profound influence of soil moisture and temperature on microbial structure in alpine wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau.
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spelling doaj-art-4f33ab74051b43efa7f97deaed2ae1582025-08-20T02:33:47ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072025-04-0113596210.3390/microorganisms13050962Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine WetlandsHuiyuan Wang0Yue Li1Xiaoqin Yang2Bin Niu3Hongzhe Jiao4Ya Yang5Guoqiang Huang6Weiguo Hou7Gengxin Zhang8Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaInstitute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaInstitute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaInstitute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaInstitute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaInstitute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaInstitute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaInstitute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaInstitute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaThe soil microbial community plays a crucial role in the elemental cycling and energy flow within wetland ecosystems. The temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of soil microbial communities are central topics in ecology. While numerous studies have focused on wetland microbial community structures at low altitudes, microbial diversity across seasons and depths and their environmental determinants remain poorly understudied. To test the seasonal variation in microbial communities with contrasting seasonal fluxes of greenhouse gases, a total of 36 soil samples were collected from different depths in the Namco wetland on the Tibetan Plateau across four seasons. We found significant seasonal variation in bacterial community composition, most pronounced in the Winter, but not in archaea. In particular, Proteobacteria decreased by 11.5% in Winter compared with other seasons (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The bacterial alpha diversity showed hump-shaped seasonal patterns with lower diversity in Winter, whereas archaea showed no significant patterns across depths. A PERMANOVA further revealed significant differences in the bacterial community structure between Winter and the other three seasons (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In addition, bacterial and archaeal community structures differed between surface (0–5 cm) and deeper (5–30 cm) soils (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Redundancy analysis showed that soil total nitrogen, soil total phosphorus, and total soil organic carbon significantly influenced bacteria and archaea (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Furthermore, soil moisture content and temperature strongly affected the bacterial community structure (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Our findings highlighted the seasonal variation in the microbial community and the profound influence of soil moisture and temperature on microbial structure in alpine wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/5/962alpine wetlandsdepthseasonal variationsoil microbes
spellingShingle Huiyuan Wang
Yue Li
Xiaoqin Yang
Bin Niu
Hongzhe Jiao
Ya Yang
Guoqiang Huang
Weiguo Hou
Gengxin Zhang
Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
Microorganisms
alpine wetlands
depth
seasonal variation
soil microbes
title Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
title_full Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
title_fullStr Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
title_full_unstemmed Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
title_short Seasonality and Vertical Structure of Microbial Communities in Alpine Wetlands
title_sort seasonality and vertical structure of microbial communities in alpine wetlands
topic alpine wetlands
depth
seasonal variation
soil microbes
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/5/962
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