Stable Soil Microbial Functional Structure Responding to Biodiversity Loss Based on Metagenomic Evidences

Area of Science:

• Microbial Ecology
• Environmental Microbiology
• Soil Science

Background:

• Anthropogenic disturbances and climate change drive global biodiversity loss, impacting ecosystem functions.
• Understanding soil microbial responses to species decline is crucial for ecosystem health.
• Limited knowledge exists on how microbial functional profiles change with biodiversity loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate biotic homogenization in global soil metagenomic data.
• To examine the resilience of microbial functional structure to significant diversity reduction.
• To investigate the relationship between soil microbial taxonomy and function under biodiversity loss.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of global soil metagenomic data.
• Assessment of biotic homogenization.
• Quantification of changes in taxonomic species and functional categories.
• Evaluation of functional profile shifts in response to diversity decline.

Main Results:

• Biodiversity loss reduced taxonomic species by 72%.
• Changes in the relative abundance of functional categories were limited.
• Functional profile changes were function-specific: broad-scale metabolism decreased, while nutrient-cycling functions increased.
• A decoupling of taxonomy and function was observed.

Conclusions:

• Soil microbial functional structure exhibits resilience to significant species richness decline.
• Microbial physiological versatility is high, but functional abundance loss should not be overlooked.
• The findings have implications for understanding ecosystem stability in the face of extinction events.