Bacteria and fungi differentially contribute to carbon and nitrogen cycles during biological soil crust succession in arid ecosystems

Aims Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are widely considered critical for soil fertility in arid ecosystems. However, how microbial communities regulate the C and N cycles during BSC succession is not well understood. Methods We utilized GeoChip 5.0 to analyze the functional potential of bacteria and fungi involved in the C and N cycles of BSCs along a 61-year revegetation chronosequence. Results The normalized average signal intensities of different functional genes involved in C and N metabolism in 61-year-old BSCs were significantly different from those in younger BSCs and most functional gene subcategories and the corresponding dominant functional populations were derived from bacterial rather than fungal communities. Most C degradation genes (dominated by the starch-degrading gene amyA) were derived from Actinobacteria (mainly Streptomyces) in bacteria, but Ascomycota (mainly Aspergillus) was the key population for lignin degradation (dominated by the phenol oxidase gene) during BSC succession. N cycle genes involved in denitrification (such as narG, nirK/S, and nosZ) and N fixation (nifH) were mainly derived from Unclassified Bacteria, whereas genes involved in ammonification (ureC) were mainly derived from Streptomyces. Moreover, redundancy analysis showed that soil biogeochemical properties were closely related to bacterial and fungal functional gene structures during BSC succession. Conclusions These findings indicate that bacteria play a crucial role in the regulation of C and N cycles during BSC succession in arid ecosystems, while fungi perform supplementary degradation of lignin, and these communities can successfully stimulate an increase in C and N metabolism in soil during the later successional stages of BSCs.