Distinct microbial communities across a climatically versatile summit in the Lesotho highlands

• Published in: Ecology and evolution Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. e9891 - n/a
• Main Authors: Patel, Jasmin, Grab, Stefan, De Maayer, Pieter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Biogeography; Climate change; Climatology; Community composition; community structure; Environmental factors; Global Change Ecology; Global warming; Highlands; Lesotho highlands; Microbial activity; microbial diversity; Microbiomes; microclimatic factors; Microorganisms; Mountain environments; Mountain regions; Mountains; Plant diversity; Plateaus; Radiation; Sequence analysis; Soil Ecology; Soil microorganisms; Soils; Topography; Vegetation; Lesotho; Africa; microbial diversity; community structure; microclimatic factors; Lesotho highlands
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9891

Most studies investigating the effects of climatological factors on microbial community composition and diversity focus on comparisons of geographically distinct environments (e.g., cold vs hot deserts) or across various temporal scales. Mountain regions provide unique environments to explore relationships between various environmental factors and soil microorganisms given their range of microclimatic conditions and vegetation types. This study investigated micro‐topographically (i.e., north‐/south‐facing slope aspects and flat plateau between them) controlled microbial diversity and community structures across a Lesotho mountain summit. Amplicon sequence analysis revealed that the north‐ and south‐facing slopes were dominated by more Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, while the plateau was dominated by more Acidobacteria. Fungi from the phylum Chytridiomycota more strongly dominated the plateau and the north‐facing slope than the south‐facing slope. Slope aspect, through its direct influence on air and soil micro‐climatology and plant diversity, significantly affects bacterial and fungal community structures at this location. These results provide original insight into soil microbial diversity in the Lesotho highlands and offer an opportunity to project the likely response of soil microorganisms to future climate warming in highly variable mountain environments such as the Lesotho highlands. A peak in the Lesotho highlands sampled in this study showed extensive differences in temperature and relative humidity over a very short spatial scale. Here, by means of amplicon sequence analysis, we show that these factors significantly impact soil microbial ecology. This can serve as a primer to study climate change across short spatial scales.