{
  "abstract": "Soil nitrogen‐fixing microorganisms naturally fertilize terrestrial ecosystems, but the primary driver of their diversity across the globe and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We analyzed the nifH gene in 1257 (1137 publicly available + 120 self‐generated) soil metagenomes from 318 terrestrial ecosystems globally. Mean annual precipitation was identified as the key factor influencing the relative abundance, richness, and composition of the potential nitrogen‐fixers. Precipitation was directly associated with nitrogen‐fixers (e.g., water availability) rather than indirectly via other soil variables (e.g., pH). Lower precipitation increased the contribution of deterministic processes (e.g., interspecific competition) in driving their community assembly and selected species with larger genomes, while higher precipitation increased the contribution of stochastic processes (e.g., random birth/death) and favored smaller‐genome species. A multifactorial experiment further demonstrated that precipitation increase had a larger regulatory effect on the stochastic processes than other factors (e.g., climate warming). eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) projections under future global change scenarios indicate a general increase in their relative abundance across most regions worldwide, with declines only in specific areas. These findings reveal distinct patterns and mechanisms governing the global biodiversity and biogeography of soil nitrogen‐fixers, providing valuable insights for developing region‐specific management strategies aimed at maintaining ecosystem productivity.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Experimental Centre of Forestry in North China Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing China",
    "College of Forestry Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou China",
    "Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China",
    "Key Laboratory of Dryland Agriculture Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing China",
    "State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources CAU/CAAS Beijing China",
    "State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi‐arid Arable Land in Northern China Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing China",
    "Key Laboratory of Arable Land Quality Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing China",
    "School of Grassland Science Beijing Forestry University Beijing China",
    "A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia",
    "College of Forestry Jiangxi Agricultural University Nanchang China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 19,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Bin Hua",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-6752-241X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shuang Pang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Ang Li",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0796-5350"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Zonghao Hu",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-6783-2869"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Honghui Wu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Shuhan Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2400-6637"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yi Fan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yi Wu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Wei Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3798-8062"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yachao Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Yupeng Guan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Baoming Ji"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Deliang Kong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yong Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Anton A. Goncharov",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3017-4557"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Anastasia Yu. Korotkevich"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Rong Mao",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0469-2281"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Yang Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ximei Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0038-5460"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cye5dxcsh82my.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1002/advs.77215",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13479853/",
  "id": "cye5dxcsh82my",
  "issns": [
    "2198-3844"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77215",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Research Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2303|Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology"
    ]
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  "openalex": "W7203630448",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13479853",
  "pmid": "42606111",
  "published": "2026-08-17",
  "publisher": "Wiley",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cye5dxcsh82my.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-06T12:23:14Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13479853",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77215"
    }
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2303|Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Rainfall Shapes the Diversity of Soil Nitrogen‐Fixing Microorganisms Worldwide",
  "title_text": "Rainfall Shapes the Diversity of Soil Nitrogen‐Fixing Microorganisms Worldwide",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T12:20:33Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cye5dxcsh82my",
  "venue": "Advanced Science",
  "versions": []
}