Understanding the extent of heterogeneity in soil microbial community structure and function at different scales within vegetation communities is critical to designing appropriate sampling protocols. Environmental factors (e.g. disturbance) make sampling in the riparian zone particularly challenging as vegetation communities are highly heterogeneous. To assess whether heterogeneity in soil and vegetation factors is reflected in microbial communities, a study was conducted in a riparian area in southern Australia. Nine quadrats were established encompassing different environmental conditions. Within quadrats physical, chemical and biological soil properties were analysed at two depths (top-soil = 0–10 cm and sub-soil = 20–30 cm), and floristic composition of ground cover, sub-canopy and canopy vegetation assessed. Soil biological analyses included microbial community composition (genetic analysis using ITS and 16S regions), and function (microbial metabolic activity using EcoPlates). Variation in soil microbial communities (fungi, bacteria, archaea) was related to differences in vegetation factors, particularly sub-canopy, and to a lesser extent, soil chemical properties. Relationships between variation in microbial communities and vegetation composition were stronger in top-soil than sub-soil. These observations were consistent for fungal communities excluding the phylum Glomeromycota, where the relationship was stronger with ground cover and only for top-soil. Variation in soil microbial community function was not related to variation in microbial community composition, soil physicochemical properties or vegetation factors. Our findings suggest there is little variation in the composition of soil microbial communities within areas with similar vegetation, and a small sampling effort would be needed to adequately describe the characteristics of such soil communities.

了解植被群落内不同尺度下土壤微生物群落结构和功能的异质程度对于设计适当的采样方案至关重要。环境因素（例如干扰）使沿河带的采样特别具有挑战性，因为植被群落高度异质。为了评估土壤和植被因子的异质性是否反映在微生物群落中，在澳大利亚南部的河岸地区进行了一项研究。建立了九个四边形，涵盖了不同的环境条件。在四足动物内部，在两个深度（表层土壤= 0–10 cm，下层土壤= 20–30 cm）分析了土壤的物理，化学和生物特性，并评估了地被植物，亚冠层和冠层植被的植物组成。土壤生物学分析包括微生物群落组成（使用ITS和16S区域进行遗传分析）和功能（使用EcoPlates进行微生物代谢活性）。土壤微生物群落（真菌，细菌，古细菌）的变化与植被因子（尤其是亚冠层）的差异有关，在较小程度上还与土壤化学性质有关。表层土壤微生物群落的变化与植被组成之间的关系要强于下层土壤。这些观察结果适用于真菌群落（不包括球菌门），后者与地被植物的关系更强，而仅对表层土壤更强。土壤微生物群落功能的变化与微生物群落组成，土壤理化性质或植被因素的变化无关。