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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Advanced Science

Rainfall Shapes the Diversity of Soil Nitrogen‐Fixing Microorganisms Worldwide

  • Bin Hua1,2
  • Shuang Pang1
  • Ang Li3
  • Zonghao Hu4,5
  • Honghui Wu6,7
  • Shuhan Zhang4,5
  • Yi Fan4,5
  • Yi Wu4,5
  • Wei Yang4,5
  • Yachao Zhao4,5
  • Yupeng Guan8
  • Baoming Ji8
7 more authors
  • Deliang Kong2
  • Yong Zhao2
  • Anton A. Goncharov9
  • Anastasia Yu. Korotkevich9
  • Rong Mao10
  • Yang Zhang10
  • Ximei Zhang1
10 affiliations
  1. 1Experimental Centre of Forestry in North China Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing China
  2. 2College of Forestry Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou China
  3. 3Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
  4. 4Key Laboratory of Dryland Agriculture Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing China
  5. 5State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources CAU/CAAS Beijing China
  6. 6State 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
  7. 7Key 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
  8. 8School of Grassland Science Beijing Forestry University Beijing China
  9. 9A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia
  10. 10College of Forestry Jiangxi Agricultural University Nanchang China
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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.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{hua2026rainfall,
  title = {{Rainfall Shapes the Diversity of Soil Nitrogen‐Fixing Microorganisms Worldwide}},
  author = {Bin Hua and Shuang Pang and Ang Li and Zonghao Hu and Honghui Wu and Shuhan Zhang and Yi Fan and Yi Wu and Wei Yang and Yachao Zhao and Yupeng Guan and Baoming Ji and Deliang Kong and Yong Zhao and Anton A. Goncharov and Anastasia Yu. Korotkevich and Rong Mao and Yang Zhang and Ximei Zhang},
  journal = {Advanced Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1002/advs.77215},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77215},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Rainfall Shapes the Diversity of Soil Nitrogen‐Fixing Microorganisms Worldwide
AU  - Bin Hua
AU  - Shuang Pang
AU  - Ang Li
AU  - Zonghao Hu
AU  - Honghui Wu
AU  - Shuhan Zhang
AU  - Yi Fan
AU  - Yi Wu
AU  - Wei Yang
AU  - Yachao Zhao
AU  - Yupeng Guan
AU  - Baoming Ji
AU  - Deliang Kong
AU  - Yong Zhao
AU  - Anton A. Goncharov
AU  - Anastasia Yu. Korotkevich
AU  - Rong Mao
AU  - Yang Zhang
AU  - Ximei Zhang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/17
JO  - Advanced Science
DO  - 10.1002/advs.77215
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77215
AB  - 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.
SN  - 2198-3844
ER  -