Understanding the microbial linkages among the soils, plants and animals
is crucial for maintaining the balance of an ecosystem in grazed
grasslands. However, previous studies always focused on the biotopes of
soil, phyllosphere and faeces separately and little has been known about
the microbial distribution and migration among these biotopes. In this
study, a systematic survey to investigate the overlap and
differentiation among the various microbiotas of biotopes and how the
environmental filter on microorganisms served for the ecosystem was
conducted at the molecular level. Our findings revealed the biotopes'
role of biofilter leads to the discrepancy of microbiota distribution
among the soil, phyllosphere and faeces. The substantial overlaps
between soil and phyllosphere in fungi, bacteria and archaea indicated
that soil could potentially perform as the microbial reservoir for
phyllosphere. However, there was only fungal mass migration running
through the ecosystem to link all the biotopes while there are little
communal OTUs of bacteria and archaea. These findings promoted our
understanding of the biotope contribution to microbial migration and
improved the knowledge of microbial linkages in the grazed grassland
ecosystem.