Mixed-Planting Mode Is Associated with Distinct Bacterial and Fungal Assembly Patterns in Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Plantations

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  • Mixed plantations of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica with native shrubs are widely established in semiarid sandy landscapes, yet soil microbial responses may differ among mixed-planting modes depending on the companion shrub species. We compared soil bacterial and fungal communities across three approximately 9-year-old mixed-planting modes in the Mu Us Sandy Land, where P. sylvestris var. mongolica was combined with Juniperus sabina (Ps-Js), Salix psammophila (Ps-Sp), or Corethrodendron fruticosum (Ps-Cf). Planting configuration was associated with shifts in soil physicochemical conditions. Bacterial alpha-diversity did not differ among modes, whereas fungal alpha-diversity was higher in Ps-Sp. Community composition diverged across modes for both domains, and LEfSe identified configuration-specific taxa. Null-model analyses showed that bacterial assembly was consistently dominated by stochastic components, whereas the relative contributions of fungal assembly processes varied among mixed-planting modes. Functional inference further suggested mode-associated differences in fungal trophic guild composition, with Ps-Cf showing significantly higher ectomycorrhizal abundance and Ps-Sp showing higher representation of saprotroph-associated guilds; by contrast, predicted bacterial functional profiles were broadly comparable among modes. Together, these results indicate that bacterial and fungal communities showed different response patterns among mixed-planting modes: bacterial communities showed compositional differentiation but little variation in alpha-diversity and consistently stochastic assembly, whereas fungal communities showed mode-related changes in alpha-diversity, the relative contributions of assembly processes, and trophic guild composition. These findings provide a microbial basis for considering shrub-species selection when designing P. sylvestris var. mongolica mixed plantations in semiarid sandy ecosystems.