Effects of soil water on fungal community composition along elevational gradients on the northern slope of the Central Kunlun Mountains.

ABSTRACT: Soil fungi are essential to ecosystem processes, yet their elevational distribution patterns and the ecological mechanisms shaping their communities remain poorly understood and actively debated, particularly in arid regions. Here, we investigated the diversity patterns and underlying mechanisms shaping soil fungal communities along an elevational gradient (1,707-3,548 m) on the northern slope of the Central Kunlun Mountains in northwest China. Results indicated that the dominant phyla identified across the seven elevational gradients were Basidiomycota and Ascomycota, displaying a unimodal pattern and a U-shaped pattern in relative abundance, respectively. Soil saprotroph and nectar/tap saprotroph were the dominant functional groups (>1.0%). Along the elevational gradients,

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11753354 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature