Association between gross domestic product and spatial distribution of denitrifying anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea along the Yangtze River

Abstract

Denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) archaea constitute a key biological methane sink, substantially mitigating methane emissions from river ecosystems. Although economic development is recognized as a factor capable of shaping microbial communities, its specific impact on DAMO archaea remains unclear. In this study, we characterized the DAMO archaeal communities along the mainstream of the Yangtze River using amplicon sequencing across different spatial regions, followed by multivariate statistical analyses to assess the influence of socio-economic factors. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated Group B dominated the DAMO archaeal communities, with higher richness in the downstream region (P < 0.01). Constrained principal coordinate analysis further indicated spatial heterogeneity in DAMO archaeal community structure (P = 0.001). Redundancy analysis demonstrated significant impacts of socio-economic, climatic, and physiochemical factors on DAMO archaeal communities (P = 0.001), with hierarchical partitioning identifying gross domestic product (GDP) as the most influential factor (20.5%). Moreover, GDP was also associated with assembly processes (normalized stochasticity ratio) and co-occurrence networks (modular structure) of DAMO archaeal communities (P < 0.0001). Collectively, these findings underscore the spatial dynamics of DAMO archaea in river ecosystems and provide new insights into the role of socio-economics on their distributions.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Methane-oxidizing archaea / Spatial distribution / Socio-economics / Community assembly / Co-occurrence network

Highlight

	● DAMO archaeal communities showed significant spatial dynamics.
	● GDP was the most important factor affecting DAMO archaeal communities.
	● Assembly processes of DAMO archaeal communities were linked with GDP.
	● GDP was associated with the modular structure of DAMO archaeal community networks.

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