Vascular plant encroachment drives soil carbon loss and microbial assembly shifts across a successional gradient in a subtropical Sphagnum-dominated peatland

Abstract

Peatlands are critical terrestrial carbon (C) pool, yet their C sequestration capacity is highly susceptible to climate changes. Warming- and drought-driven Sphagnum decline and vascular plant encroachment are expected to accelerate C decomposition and ecosystem transitions. Here, we established a wetland-to-forest successional gradient, including Herb-, Shrub-, Small-tree-, and Tree-dominated areas, to investigate how plant encroachment affected C dynamics and microbial community assembly in a subtropical peatland. Our findings revealed that soil nutrient availability and C contents significantly declined with plant encroachment, favoring microbial taxa adapted to distinct C substrates and oxygen regimes. Microbial diversity was lowest in the ecotone (Small-tree-dominated area), suggesting strong environmental filtering during community reassembly in response to peatland degradation. Microbial community assembly was predominantly governed by deterministic processes, with stochasticity playing a more substantial role in shaping bacterial assemblages than in fungal community. Moreover, bacterial co-occurrence networks became increasingly simplified, while fungal networks grew more complex along the successional gradient, indicating divergent microbial responses to peatland degradation. These findings provide new insights into C and microbial dynamics along a forest successional gradient in subtropical peatlands. The vascular encroachment could serve as an early warning signal of peatland degradation, highlighting the need for proactive conservation strategies.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

peatland degradation / Sphagnum mosses / vascular plant encroachment / carbon dynamic / microbial assembly

Highlight

	● C dynamics and microbial traits along a wetland-to-forest gradient were assessed.
	● Vascular plant encroachment reduced soil nutrient availability and C pools.
	● Microbial diversity and communities shifted along the degradation gradient.
	● Soils in the small-tree-dominated area exhibited the lowest microbial diversity.
	● Stochasticity had a greater influence on bacterial than fungal community assembly.

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