Diversity, biogeography, and assembly of fungal communities in Chinese mangrove sediments

Utilizing high-throughput amplicon sequencing across seven representative mangroves along the Chinese coastline, we characterized the distribution patterns and hierarchical assembly mechanisms of the sediment mycobiome. Our results reveal that mangrove sediments serve as a major reservoir of taxonomic novelty, harboring abundant phylum-unclassified species and widespread non-Dikarya lineages.

Site identity exerts a stronger influence on community variance than mangrove plant, with dispersal limitation and mean annual temperature shaping macro-scale patterns. Locally, salinity and C/N ratio function as prominent environmental filters that constrain fungal communities, while total phosphorus exerts a notable indirect facilitative effect. The inter-domain co-occurrence network is dominated by synergistic associations, featuring a prokaryotic backbone and specific fungal nodes with high topological centrality.