# Temporal Variation in Bacterial Community Characteristics Shaped by Habitat in a Reservoir Buffer Strip in China

## TL;DR

This study shows that habitat type has a stronger influence than seasonal changes on soil bacteria in a reservoir buffer zone in China.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates that habitat characteristics, particularly vegetation and moisture resilience, are more influential than temporal factors in shaping bacterial communities in reservoir buffer zones.

## Key findings

- Habitat type was found to be more important than temporal variation in shaping bacterial diversity and ecological processes.
- Bacterial communities responded to temporal changes through shifts in shared species abundance and the resurgence or extinction of specific taxa.
- Vegetation characteristics and landscape diversity significantly influence bacterial community dynamics in different habitats.

## Abstract

Habitat and temporal variation can both influence microbial community dynamics, although their relative importance in reservoir buffer zones with complex hydrology regimes and dramatically altered environments remains controversial. To elucidate this, we investigated spatiotemporal variation in soil bacterial diversity and ecological processes from the flooding period to the dry period (April and June, respectively) using high‐throughput 16S amplicon sequencing in three habitats (abandoned cropland, grassland, and woodland) within the Chushandian Reservoir's buffer strip, China. The results showed that habitat was more important than temporal variation in shaping soil bacterial diversity and ecological processes in the reservoir buffer zone. Bacterial communities responded to temporal variation both in terms of species composition and function; temporal variation affected bacterial communities mostly by altering the abundance of shared species and by causing the resurgence or extinction of specific taxa within the same habitat. The main driver of these changes was the resilience capacity of habitats to the changing moisture environment. The magnitude and underlying mechanisms of the changes in bacterial community diversity and ecological processes differed markedly between the three habitats, owing mostly to the characteristics of their vegetation, thus the allocation ratios of different habitat vegetation types and landscape diversity should pay attention for the reservoir buffer zone management, improving the integrated ecological benefits of the reservoir ecosystem from a multiscale.

Habitat is more important than temporal variation in shaping soil bacterial community diversity in reservoir buffer strips; the adaptive capacity of habitats to changes in the moisture environment is the main driver. Changes in the abundance of shared species and resurgence or extinction of some specific taxa in the same habitat.