Composition and diversity of the fungal community in the rhizosphere soil of halophytic vegetation in Ebinur Lake wetland

The Ebinur Lake wetland in Xinjiang is a typical wetland, comprising a desert ecosystem with rich soil microbial resources, especially soil fungi in the inter-rhizosphere regions of the wetland plants. This study aimed to clarify the diversity and community structures of the inter-rhizosphere soil fungi of plants in areas of high salinity in the Ebinur Lake wetland and their correlations with environmental factors, as little is currently known on this topic. The diversity and differences in the community structures of fungi associated with 12 salt-tolerant plant species in the Ebinur Lake wetland were investigated using 16S rRNA sequencing. Correlations between the fungi and environmental factors, specifically, the physiochemical characteristics of the soil, were evaluated. The results showed that fungaldiversity was highest in the rhizosphere soil of Haloxylon ammodendron, followed by H. strobilaceum. The dominant fungal groups were found to be Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, and the dominant genus was Fusarium. Redundancy analysis revealed significant associations between total nitrogen, electrical conductivity, and total potassium in the soil and both the diversity and abundance of the fungi (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the abundance of fungi of all genera in the rhizosphere soil samples were found to be strongly correlated with environmental physicochemical factors such as available nitrogen and phosphorus. These findings provide data and theoretical support for a better understanding of the ecological resources of fungi in the Ebinur Lake wetland.