Qatar is largely characterized by a hyper-arid climate and low soil fertility which create a stressful soil environment for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. In a study of AM fungal communities and their relationship with soil chemical characteristics, we used a high-throughput sequencing technique to explore AM fungal diversity and community composition in different habitats across Qatar. We identified a total of 79 AM fungal taxa, over 77% of which were species from the Glomeraceae family. The lowest AM fungal diversity was observed in saltmarsh and in one rawdha site, while the highest richness, effective number of species, and diversity were observed in rawdha and sabkha communities. NMDS and multiple regression analyses showed that AM fungi were negatively correlated with soil pH and TC, but positively correlated with K and NO₃⁻. AM fungi also were positively correlated with Cd, with the latter suggesting that very low levels of heavy metals may not always be harmful to AM fungi. These findings provide baseline information on AM fungal assemblages and the chemical drivers of diversity across communities in Qatar. This work partly compensates for the current lack of broad-scale studies in the Arabian Peninsula by providing understanding of overall patterns of AM fungi and their drivers in the region.

卡塔尔的主要特征是极度干旱的气候和低土壤肥力，这为丛枝菌根 (AM) 真菌创造了压力土壤环境。在对 AM 真菌群落及其与土壤化学特征的关系的研究中，我们使用高通量测序技术探索了卡塔尔不同栖息地的 AM 真菌多样性和群落组成。我们共鉴定了 79 个 AM 真菌类群，其中超过 77% 是来自Glomeraceae科的物种。在盐沼和一个rawdha现场观察到最低的AM真菌多样性，而最高的丰富性，有效的若干种，和多样性观察rawdha和盐沼社区。NMDS和多元回归分析表明AM真菌与土壤pH和TC呈负相关，而与K和NO ₃ ^-呈正相关。AM 真菌也与 Cd 呈正相关，后者表明极低水平的重金属可能并不总是对 AM 真菌有害。这些发现提供了有关 AM 真菌组合和卡塔尔社区多样性的化学驱动因素的基线信息。这项工作通过了解该地区 AM 真菌的整体模式及其驱动因素，在一定程度上弥补了目前阿拉伯半岛缺乏大规模研究的不足。