Ecosystem degradation is a process during which different ecosystem
components interact and affect each other. The microbial community, as a
component of the ecosystem whose members often display high reproduction
rates, is more readily able to respond to environmental stress at the
compositional and functional levels, thus potentially threatening other
ecosystem components. However, very little research has been carried out
on how microbial community degradation affects other ecosystem
components, which hampers the comprehensive understanding of ecosystems
as a whole. In this study, we investigated the variation in a soil
microbial community through the extinction gradient of an
ectomycorrhizal species (Tricholomas matsutake) and explored the
relationship between microbial community degradation and ectomycorrhizal
species extinction. The result showed that during degradation, the
microbial community switched from an interactive state to a stress
tolerance state, during which the interactivity of the microbial
community decreased, and the reduced community interactions with
T.matsutake marginalized it from a large central interactive module to a
small peripheral module, eventually leading to its extinction. This
study highlights the mechanisms of T.matsutake extinction due to the
loss of soil microbial community interactivity, offering valuable
information about soil microbial community degradation and the plant
ectomycorrhizal species conservation.
Effects of plant interspecific interaction and warming on soil microbial community in root zone soil of two dominant tree species in the subalpine coniferous forest in southwestern China
