土壤微生物是在全球层面驱动生物地球化学循环的主要因素，在调控自然生态系统中发挥重要作用。在土壤微生物群落中，真菌微生物更具生态重要性，它们不仅介导土壤的碳氮循环、参与植物对营养物质和水分的吸收来供给植物营养，而且还能保护植物应对干旱、病原菌侵害等非生物和生物胁迫，也被认为是驱动土壤肥力的关键因子。茶园的酸性土壤下真菌微生物相比于细菌展现出更高的酸性环境耐受性，因此通常认为茶园生态系统中土壤真菌比细菌更加重要。在本研究中，作者以从全国11个省份14个茶园中收集的140份茶园真菌群落为材料，基于肥力梯度分析了茶园真菌群落的多样性与茶园土壤肥力的关系，并探究了确定性和随机过程在菌群形成中的作用。结果表明茶园中总真菌和真菌功能类群的群落差异性随土壤肥力指数的增大而增大，越肥沃的土壤中真菌群落展现出更加的复杂性，环境因素对真菌群落组成的影响略大于空间因素，茶园土壤真菌群落对土壤肥力的响应具有确定性。
Abstract
In the processes controlling ecosystem fertility, fungi are increasingly acknowledged as key drivers. However, the understanding of the rules of fungal community assembly regarding the effect of soil fertility level is still limited.
Using soil samples from typical tea plantations spanning approximately a 2,167 km north–east to south–west across China, this study investigated the assemblage complexity and assembly processes of 140 fungal communities along a soil fertility gradient.
The community dissimilarities of total fungi and fungal functional guilds increased with increasing soil fertility index dissimilarity. The symbiotrophs were more sensitive to the variation of soil fertility than those of pathotrophs and saprotrophs. Fungal networks exhibited larger size and higher connectivity as well as greater potential for inter‐module connection in more fertile soils. Environmental factors had a slightly greater influence on fungal community composition than spatial factors. Species abundance fitted the Zipf‐Mandelbrot distribution (niche‐based mechanisms), which provided evidence for deterministic‐based processes.
Overall, the soil fungal communities in tea plantations responded in a deterministic manner to soil fertility, with high fertility correlated with complex fungal community assemblages. This study provides new insights that might contribute to predictions of fungal community complexity.
责任编辑：千鹤茶苗