Spatial Patterns of Soil Fungal Communities Are Driven by Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) Quality in Semi-Arid Regions

Soil fungi are ecologically important as decomposers, pathogens, and symbionts in nature. Understanding their biogeographic patterns and driving forces is pivotal to predict alterations arising from environmental changes in ecosystem. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an essential resource for soil fungi; however, the role of its quality in structuring fungal community patterns remains elusive. Here using Illumina MiSeq sequencing, we characterized total fungi and their functional groups in 45 soil samples collected from a 1500-km sampling transect through semi-arid regions in northern China, which are currently suffering great pressure from climate change. Total fungi and their functional groups were all observed to exhibit significant biogeographic patterns which were primarily driven by environmental variables. DOM quality was the best and consistent predictor of diversity of both total fungi and functional groups. Specifically, plant-derived DOM was associated with greater diversity relative to microbe-dominated origins. In addition, fungal diversity linearly increased with increases in degree of humification in DOM. Similarly, among all measured environmental variables, DOM quality had the strongest effects on the community composition of total fungi and functional groups. Together, our work contributes to the factors underlying fungal biogeographic patterns and adds detail to the importance of DOM quality in structuring fungal communities.