AUTHOR=Zhou Yingyi , Li Dongliang , Zhang Lang , Zhang Dongming 
  
TITLE=Habitat-associated rhizosphere microbiome differentiation in wild tea soils
  
JOURNAL=Spanish Journal of Soil Science
  
VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2026
  
YEAR=2026
  
URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/spanish-journal-of-soil-science/articles/10.3389/sjss.2026.17010
  
DOI=10.3389/sjss.2026.17010
  
ISSN=2253-6574
  
ABSTRACT=Low-disturbance wild tea plantations provide useful field systems for examining how natural habitat heterogeneity is associated with rhizosphere soil conditions and microbial community organization. In this study, rhizosphere soils were collected from three naturally contrasting habitats in a wild tea plantation in Hainan, China: open sites, slope-shaded sites, and rainforest-shaded sites. Soil physicochemical properties were measured, and shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to characterize microbial taxonomic composition and KEGG Ortholog-based functional potential. Clear habitat-associated edaphic differentiation was observed. Rainforest-shaded soils had relatively higher pH, organic matter, available phosphorus, and available potassium than the other habitats, whereas nitrogen-related indices remained comparatively stable. Microbial alpha diversity did not differ significantly among habitats, but Bray-Curtis-based beta diversity showed a significant overall habitat effect, with the principal compositional gradient involving RS relative to OP and SS. This pattern indicates that habitat-associated variation was expressed more strongly through community compositional reorganization than through changes in overall richness. Redundancy analysis further indicated that pH, organic matter, and available phosphorus were the main edaphic variables associated with microbial community differentiation. The most abundant KOs showed habitat-associated patterns in relative representation. Open-site soils showed higher representation of metagenome-inferred KOs annotated to substrate transport and environmental sensing, slope-shaded soils showed higher representation of KOs annotated to redox balance and stress-related processes, and rainforest-shaded soils showed higher representation of KOs annotated to genetic information processing and cellular maintenance. These patterns reflect differences in encoded functional potential rather than realized microbial activity. Overall, these results suggest that natural habitat heterogeneity in low-disturbance wild tea systems is associated with coordinated variation in rhizosphere soil fertility and microbial community composition, together with descriptive variation in selected components of metagenome-inferred functional potential. These findings provide field-based evidence for aboveground–belowground linkage in wild tea soils and highlight the importance of edaphic gradients in structuring rhizosphere microbiomes.