Composition and Diversity of Soil Bacterial Communities along an Environmental Gradient in the Sudano-Sahelian Region of Senegal

The soils of the semi-arid Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa have been identified as being highly vulnerable to soil degradation with impacts on their capacity to provide goods and services in which soil microorganisms participate. Unfortunately, soil microbial diversity from this semi-arid region with high rainfall variability remains largely unexplored. The aim of the present study was to characterize the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial communities and to identify factors involved in their spatial distribution along an environmental gradient in Senegal. Samples were collected from non-anthropogenic sites across four pedoclimatic zones. Bacterial communities were characterized using next-generation sequencing and soil physico-chemical parameters were determined. Our results showed that Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Acidobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia phyla were predominant in the soils of the region. Bacterial α-diversity was stable along the environmental gradient whereas β-diversity highlighted significant changes in the composition of the soil bacterial community. Changes were driven by shifts in the relative abundance of OTUs belonging mainly to the genus Bacillus, Conexibacter, Kaistobacter, Solirubrobacter, Ktedonobacter, Sphingomonas, Microvirga, Rubrobacter and Pelobacter. Soil properties like pH, soil moisture and clay content were the environmental parameters identified as drivers of the composition of the bacterial communities in the semi-arid Sudano-Sahelian region of Senegal (West Africa).