Work

Biogeographic patterns reveal the extensive adaptation of forest soil myxobacteria along environmental gradients

Year: 2025

Type: article

Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis

Abstract: • Myxobacteria was more abundant in warm, acidic and relatively wet forest. • Forest soil harbored various undescribed myxobacteria. • Forest soil myxobacteria community showed a small species turnover rate. • The niche breadth of myxobacteria was wider than other micro-predators. Microbial responses to environmental gradients are often evaluated at community level, where bacterial communities are treated as a metaorganism. Considering that tolerance to physicochemical factors is an attribute of microbial lineages and functional groups, it seems necessary to figure out how well each taxon’s adaptation and sensitivity to different environments, especially for the prediction model of microbial response to climate change. Here, we reported the response of the soil predator myxobacteria, a group of bacteria cooperating and communicating to form multicellular structures and performing complex behaviors to prey on other microorganisms, across different forest soil by a comprehensive meta -analysis. The results showed that myxobacteria frequently occurred in forest soils. Soil properties explained a larger fraction of community variation (11.10%) than climatic factors (10.20%) and geographic variables (4.91%). The myxobacterial community showed a lower rate of species turnover than that of the whole bacterial community, and the proportions of both general and core myxobacteria in forest soil were higher than those of bacteria. Furthermore, the niche breadth of myxobacteria was wider than that of other micro-predators and common bacterial guilds inhabiting forest soil, providing statistical evidence for their potentially extensive environmental adaptation. This study provided robust statistical evidence for wider ranges of environmental breadths of myxobacteria and indicated the need to discriminate different taxa in predicting microbial responses to environmental gradients.

Source: Ecological Indicators

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113351

Authors: Yang Zhou, Xianjiao Zhang, Qing Yao, Honghui Zhu

Institutions: Guangdong Academy of Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Guangdong Province

Language: English

Topic: Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,650