Power law in species–area relationship overestimates bacterial diversity in grassland soils at larger scales

IF 6.3 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2024-03-22 DOI:10.1111/geb.13825

Biao Zhang, Kai Xue, Wenjing Liu, Shutong Zhou, Shipeng Nie, Yichao Rui, Li Tang, Zhe Pang, Linfeng Li, Junfu Dong, Cong Xu, Lili Jiang, Shaopeng Wang, Yanbin Hao, Xiaoyong Cui, Yanfen Wang

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Abstract

Aim

Species–area relationships (SAR) are widely utilized for estimating the species richness and its spatial turnover across various scales. Despite the prevalent characterization of SAR using the power law in many microbial community studies, its efficacy remains unvalidated. This study aims to characterize the microbial SAR and its mechanisms in alpine grassland soils on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP).

Location

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.

Time Period

August 2014.

Major Taxa Studied

Soil bacteria.

Methods

Soil samples were collected from five alpine grassland sites on the QTP. Employing a nested sampling strategy at each site, soil samples were collected in plot sizes ranging from 0.5 × 0.5 m² to 2048 × 2048 m². Soil bacterial communities were analysed by sequencing 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons using an Illumina MiSeq.

Results

The bacterial SAR exhibited a logarithmic power law (R²: 0.952–0.999), outperforming the power law (R²: 0.701–0.852). Consequently, the most widely adopted power law led to an overestimation of species richness by up to 15.07% in areas >256 × 256 m², and the regional maximum theoretical richness based on Chao1 by up to 9.88%. Mechanistically, the passive sampling hypothesis was refuted through the rarefied species richness analysis, and the disproportionate effect hypothesis was rejected based on analyses of the effective numbers of species number conversions for the probability of interspecific encounters (S_PIE). Notably, Pearson and multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the spatial turnover of bacterial richness was determined by the environmental heterogeneity (R²: 0.855–0.999), rather or better than environmental variables themselves, supporting the ‘environment heterogeneity hypothesis’.

Main Conclusions

Soil bacterial SAR in alpine grasslands exhibited a logarithmic power relationship. Spatial turnover was primarily governed by the environmental heterogeneity. In contrast, the traditional power law leads to an overestimation of soil bacterial diversity at the regional scale.

Abstract Image

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物种-面积关系中的幂律高估了较大尺度草地土壤中的细菌多样性

物种-面积关系（SAR）被广泛用于估算物种丰富度及其在不同尺度上的空间周转。尽管许多微生物群落研究普遍使用幂律来描述 SAR，但其有效性仍有待验证。本研究旨在描述青藏高原（QTP）高寒草地土壤中微生物 SAR 的特征及其机制。

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.