Abstract Soil microbial communities, which play important roles in biogeochemical cycling, are affected by plants in many ways. To understand how plants affect soil microbes, we compared soils under halophytic shrubs and herbs, whose effects on soil salinity (one of the strongest determining factors for soil microbes in saline grasslands) were different. We measured soil physicochemical properties, as well as prokaryotic abundance, community structure, diversity, and the quantified and predicted abundances of functional genes for nitrogen (N) cycling. As we intended, we found the soil salinity to be the highest in barren areas (BA), intermediate under a tamarisk crown (UC), and the lowest in herbaceous patches (HP), whereas other plant-related properties, e.g. soil organic matter content, differed between vegetated areas (UC and HP) and BA. Prokaryotic community structure and diversity changed along the soil salinity gradient, but not as a function of plant presence or absence. However, N transformation rate and N availability were not affected by the salinity gradient alone. The dominant prokaryotic groups that contributed the most to changes in prokaryotic community structure and diversity were likely not those primarily responsible for N mineralization.

中文翻译：

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土壤原核生物群落结构由植物诱导的土壤盐度梯度决定，而不是由与盐碱草地中植物存在相关的其他环境参数决定

摘要 土壤微生物群落在生物地球化学循环中起重要作用，受植物影响的方式有很多。为了了解植物如何影响土壤微生物，我们比较了盐生灌木和草本植物对土壤盐度（盐渍草原土壤微生物的最强决定因素之一）的影响不同的土壤。我们测量了土壤理化特性，以及原核生物丰度、群落结构、多样性，以及氮 (N) 循环功能基因的量化和预测丰度。正如我们预期的那样，我们发现土壤盐分在贫瘠地区 (BA) 最高，在柽柳树冠 (UC) 下居中，在草本斑块 (HP) 中最低，而其他与植物相关的特性，例如土壤有机质内容，在植被区（UC 和 HP）和 BA 之间有所不同。原核生物群落结构和多样性沿土壤盐度梯度变化，但不是植物存在与否的函数。然而，N 转化率和 N 可用性不受盐度梯度的单独影响。对原核生物群落结构和多样性变化贡献最大的主要原核生物群可能不是那些主要负责 N 矿化的原核生物群。