Spatial distribution patterns of ammonia-oxidizing archaea abundance in subtropical forests at early and late successional stages

Characterizing the spatial distribution patterns of soil microorganisms is helpful in understanding the biogeochemical processes they perform, but has been less studied relative to those of macroorganisms. In this study, we investigated and compared the spatially explicit distribution patterns of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) abundance and the influential factors between an early (ES) and a late successional (LS) subtropical forest stand. The average AOA abundance, vegetational attributes, and soil nutrient contents were mostly greater in the LS than the ES stand (P = 0.085 or smaller), but their spatial variations were more pronounced in the ES than the LS stand. The spatial distribution patches of AOA abundance were smaller and more irregular in the ES stand (patch size <50 m) than in the LS stand (patch size about 120 m). Edaphic and vegetational variables contributed more to the spatial variations of AOA abundance for the ES (9.3%) stand than for LS stand, whereas spatial variables (MEMs) were the main contributors (62%) for the LS stand. These results suggest that environmental filtering likely influence the spatial distribution of AOA abundance at early successional stage more than that at late successional stage, while spatial dispersal is dominant at late successional stage.