Network classification reveals the variation of soil bacterial diversity among plant species

Soil bacterial diversity often shows different trends due to changes in dominant plant species. However, the potential key drivers of processes that reveal bacterial diversity per se have not been clearly elucidated. We established a field experiment with 9 native grassland species and assessed the relationship between soil bacterial diversity and ecological taxa classified by network construction. A co-occurrence network of 1065 points and 10023 edges, among 9 native grasses, was established to classify microbial ecological taxa. The results showed that the relative abundance of ecological taxa classified as peripherals, which is influenced by soil urease activity, inhibited bacterial diversity. Conversely, the relative abundance of specific taxa directly controlled by plants was positively related to bacterial diversity. Further, the composition of peripherals was not affected by soil physicochemical properties, while the composition of specific taxa was affected by NO ₃ ^- , TP, AP, SU, TC and AK. The composition of peripherals and specific taxa have different responses to soil properties due to their sensitivity to environmental changes. Our findings reveal that plant-dominated bacterial diversity is closely linked to the abundance of peripheral and specific taxa. Understanding these mechanisms may provide a new insight in to the management of grassland soil microbes through the selection of grass species following disturbance and subsequent restoration.