The relative effects of abiotic and biotic factors in explaining the structure of soil bacterial communities at diverse taxonomic levels

Abstract

Soil microbes play pivotal roles in the multifunctioning of terrestrial ecosystems. In the context of global changes, there is an urgent need to protect soil microbial diversity, which relies on determining the abiotic and biotic factors that influence the diversity, composition, and assemblage of soil microbiota. A large number of informative studies have reported edaphic properties and climate factors as key drivers of soil bacteria microbiota. However, these studies were mainly conducted at the phylum level and based on a restricted number of non-microbial variables. In this study, we aimed to estimate the relative effects of abiotic and biotic factors in shaping soil bacterial communities at diverse taxonomic levels by focusing on 160 natural sites located in the southwest of France for which a large and unique set of non-microbial variables is available. After characterizing soil bacterial communities with the highly taxonomically resolving gyrB gene, we identified that in addition to pH, temperature, and precipitations, soil bacterial communities at the lowest taxonomic levels appear strongly structured by soil micronutrients, notably manganese. On the other hand, soil bacterial communities at the highest taxonomic levels appear strongly structured by the interplay between descriptors of plant communities and edaphic properties. Similar to previous observations on microbial pathogens, the strong and positive associations between soil bacterial species and the presence of particular plant species suggest host specificity for soil commensal bacteria. Altogether, a deeper characterization of both abiotic and biotic factors could help fuel programs designed for protecting and restoring soil ecosystem functions.