Analysis of soil nematode community of alpine meadow in the middle of the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

The alpine meadow of Tibet Plateau is extensively distributed, and the soil nematode community may exhibit certain regional differences. To understand whether there were differences among soil nematode communities, soil samples were collected in the Bangjietang alpine meadow which is in the middle of the Tibet Plateau, and the composition of soil nematode communities was determined by high-throughput sequencing technology. It was found that from 0-10 cm to 10-20 cm, the composition of soil nematode community changed significantly, the relative abundance of Chromadorea at the class level decreased while that of Enpolea increased, the relative abundance of Rhabdtida at the order level decreased while that of Dorylaimida increased. There were only eight genera of soil nematodes at the genus level, which was significantly different from the Northern Tibet region. The soil nematode communities were dominated by a bacterivorous trophic group. The soil chemical properties such as soil organic matter (SOM), available nitrogen (AN), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd affected the class and order level of soil nematodes, specifically, they both had negative effects on Chromadorea and Rhabiditida, and positive effects on Enoplea and Dorylaimida. In general, our results indicate that the composition of soil nematode communities in the alpine meadow which was in the middle of the Tibet Plateau was similar but different from that in Northern Tibet Plateau, specifically, they were mainly bacterivorous trophic group, but Bangjietang alpine meadow contained few genera, and the dominant nematode communities were different at class and order levels.