Abundant microorganisms in soil are mainly controlled by stochastic processes, while bacteria and fungi differ in rare taxa

The assembly mode of microbial communities helps to explain the ecological processes of soil subsurface groups, and abundant and rare microorganisms have their own unique assembly patterns. In this paper, the effect of changing vegetation types on the assembly of bacteria and fungi with different abundances in soil was investigated by iCAMP in the Tianshan Mountains. The results showed that: (i) there were differences in the distribution of rare and abundant microbial communities among different vegetation types: the main trends were forests>shrubs > grasslands, and the diversity and variability of rare microorganisms were greater than those of abundant taxa; (ii) abundant taxa were mainly affected by stochastic processes (mainly diffusion limitation), whereas among rare microbes, the main controlling process for bacteria was heterogeneous selection and for fungi was diffusion limitation; ()soil carbon, nitrogen and temperature were important determinants driving bacterial community structure. Our results deepen the understanding of the various ecological processes involved in microbial community assembly, reveal the effects of environmental factors on abundant and rare microorganisms, and provide evidence for understanding the mechanisms of soil microbial community construction among different vegetation covers in arid zones. ImportanceThe study compares the response of different vegetation types to soil microbial community processes in the arid zone and deepens the understanding of the mechanisms of soil microbial community composition at different abundances.