Guofan Zhu, Lu Luan, Shungui Zhou, Francisco Dini-Andreote, Mohammad Bahram, Yunfeng Yang, Stefan Geisen, Jie Zheng, Shaopeng Wang, Yuji Jiang
Body size is an important life-history trait that affects organism niche occupancy and ecological interactions. However, it is still unclear to what extent the assembly process of organisms with different body sizes affects soil biogeochemical cycling processes at the aggregate level. Here, we examined the diversity and community assembly of soil microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and protists) and microfauna (nematodes) with varying body sizes. The microbial functional potential associated with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur metabolism within three soil aggregate sizes (large macroaggregates, > 2 mm; small macroaggregates, 0...
March 1, 2024: Microbiological Research