Stronger responses of soil protistan communities to legacy mercury pollution than bacterial and fungal communities in agricultural systems.

ABSTRACT: Soil pollution is an important stressor affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, we lack a holistic understanding of how soil microbial communities respond to heavy metal pollution in agricultural ecosystems. Here, we explored the distribution patterns and inter-kingdom interactions of entire soil microbiome (including bacteria, fungi, and protists) in 47 paired paddy and upland fields along a gradient of legacy mercury (Hg) pollution. We found that the richness and composition of protistan community had stronger responses to Hg pollution than those of bacterial and fungal communities in both paddy and upland soils. Mercury polluted soils harbored less protistan phototrophs but more protistan consumers. We further revealed that long-term Hg pollution greatly increased net

SUBMITTER: Du S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9723755 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature