Large scale exploration reveals rare taxa crucially shape microbial assembly in alkaline lake sediments.

ABSTRACT: Alkaline lakes are extreme environments inhabited by diverse microbial extremophiles. However, large-scale distribution patterns, environmental adaptations, community assembly, and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities remain largely underexplored. This study investigated the characteristics of microbial communities on rare and abundant taxa in alkaline lake sediments in west and northwest China. We observed that abundant taxa varied significantly with geographical distance, while rare taxa remained unaffected by regional differences. The assembly process of abundant taxa was influenced by dispersal limitation, whilst rare taxa were predominantly driven by heterogeneous selection. Network analysis indicated that rare taxa as core species for community interactions and community st

SUBMITTER: Qiu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11284227 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature