Soil bacterial and fungal diversities and its putative association with the distribution of Oncomelania hupensis in the Dongting Lake marshlands, China

Oncomelania hupensis is the intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum. In a marshland of Dongting Lake, the abundance of the snail plunged in 1999 and disappeared in 2000, for which the reasons remain unclear. Soil samples were collected from three locations: 1) Qianliang Lake where no snail was found, 2) Junshan Park where remained infested with O. hupensis and 3) Jianxin Farm in between. We compared the physicochemical characteristics and microbial compositions of soil samples from the three sites. All tested physicochemical characteristics of soil samples, except for pH, were similar for samples from Qianliang Lake and Junshan Park marshlands. Both bacterial and fungal community structures varied among the samples from three sites. Fungal diversity was significantly negatively correlated with moisture and total phosphorus and was positively correlated with fluoride and chloride. Soil microbial communities were different between sites with and without O. hupensis snails, but whether some identified abundant taxa are a reason for the disappearance of O. hupensis needs to be confirmed.

Automated summary

The presence or absence of O. hupensis snails in different sites affects the microbial community structure and diversity of the soil. Fungal diversity was significantly negatively correlated with moisture and total phosphorus and was positively correlated with fluoride and chloride. Contrary to traditional beliefs, the structure of soil microbial communities is more influenced by the presence of snails, rather than the physicochemical characteristics of the soil itself.