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Background <p>Microbial communities in karst caves represent highly specialized and distinct assemblages shaped by the unique physicochemical properties of cave environments. Although recent research has advanced our understanding of community composition, the underlying assembly mechanisms and spatial structuring processes, including distance decay relationships, remain insufficiently resolved. The aim of this research was to elucidate the community assembly mechanisms and distance decay patterns of microbial communities in weathered rock and sediment habitats.</p> Results <p>We analyzed 16S rRNA gene sequencing data from 333 weathered rock and sediment samples collected across karst caves in the southwestern region of China, India, Italy, and Mexico. Distinct microbial communities were observed between weathered rock and sediment habitats, with sediment communities showing higher alpha diversity and more pronounced compositional shifts with increasing distance from the entrance. Both weathered rock and sediment communities showed distance-decay relationships, suggesting that geographic distance contributes to microbial community differentiation in caves. Moreover, stochastic processes, particularly dispersal limitation, play a dominant role in the assembly of microbial communities in both weathered rock and sediment. However, the influence of ecological drift is more prominent at local scales but declines at larger spatial scales. Sediment habitat and photic zone have higher connectivity, meaning the stable subgroups were formed to enhance ecological adaptability.</p> Conclusion <p>This study revealed that microbial communities in karst caves are strongly shaped by habitat type, the distance from the cave entrance, and spatial scale. The observed distance-decay patterns indicate that geographic distance contributes to microbial community differentiation in caves, but its influence is weaker than that of local environmental and habitat-specific controls. Stochastic processes dominate community assembly, with dispersal limitation as the key mechanism. The findings provide new insights into the ecological mechanisms underlying microbial distribution in extreme subsurface environments and highlight the importance of integrating large-scale datasets for understanding microbial biogeography in karst systems.</p>

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Microbial community succession along the entrance to distant zone in karst cave ecosystem: community assembly and distance decay patterns in weathered rock and sediment habitats

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月24日

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  • Jiaming Du,
  • Liyuan Ma,
  • Xinping Huang,
  • Xiaolu Lu,
  • Hongmei Wang

摘要

Background

Microbial communities in karst caves represent highly specialized and distinct assemblages shaped by the unique physicochemical properties of cave environments. Although recent research has advanced our understanding of community composition, the underlying assembly mechanisms and spatial structuring processes, including distance decay relationships, remain insufficiently resolved. The aim of this research was to elucidate the community assembly mechanisms and distance decay patterns of microbial communities in weathered rock and sediment habitats.

Results

We analyzed 16S rRNA gene sequencing data from 333 weathered rock and sediment samples collected across karst caves in the southwestern region of China, India, Italy, and Mexico. Distinct microbial communities were observed between weathered rock and sediment habitats, with sediment communities showing higher alpha diversity and more pronounced compositional shifts with increasing distance from the entrance. Both weathered rock and sediment communities showed distance-decay relationships, suggesting that geographic distance contributes to microbial community differentiation in caves. Moreover, stochastic processes, particularly dispersal limitation, play a dominant role in the assembly of microbial communities in both weathered rock and sediment. However, the influence of ecological drift is more prominent at local scales but declines at larger spatial scales. Sediment habitat and photic zone have higher connectivity, meaning the stable subgroups were formed to enhance ecological adaptability.

Conclusion

This study revealed that microbial communities in karst caves are strongly shaped by habitat type, the distance from the cave entrance, and spatial scale. The observed distance-decay patterns indicate that geographic distance contributes to microbial community differentiation in caves, but its influence is weaker than that of local environmental and habitat-specific controls. Stochastic processes dominate community assembly, with dispersal limitation as the key mechanism. The findings provide new insights into the ecological mechanisms underlying microbial distribution in extreme subsurface environments and highlight the importance of integrating large-scale datasets for understanding microbial biogeography in karst systems.