Fungal Community Diversity in Solonchaks of Gansu Province in China.

We collected solonchaks samples of 5 subtypes and 13 genera from Gansu Province in China and analyzed the diversity of fungal communities with the methods of ITS sequencing. We found that ACE, Chao 1, Simpson and Shannon indices of the fungal community varied significantly in soil samples and were generally inversely correlated with pH. The dominant fungal groups were Ascomycota and Basidiomycota among the different solonchaks. Redundancy analysis revealed that soil organic matters was the most important driving force for fungal composition (29.9%), and the second most influencing factor was sulfate ion (9.1%). Our results suggest that Ascomycota was the main indicator phylum reflecting changes of the microbial groups and soil organic matter as a key factor drove the composition of fungal community in 5 subtypes and 13 genera of solonchaks in Gansu Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]