Rhizosphere filtering drives the diversity and assembly of soil rotifer communities

Soil rotifers, a phylum of microscopic, multicellular animals, play a critical role in various important functions across global ecosystems. However, our understanding of the processes shaping the large-scale distribution of soil rotifers, particularly in relation to plants and environmental factors, remains limited. Through the analysis of 570 soil samples collected across China, we found that α-diversity of rotifers was significantly higher in rhizosphere soils than in bulk soils, and their β-diversity also exhibited significant differences, highlighting the critical role of the rhizosphere effect in shaping rotifer community structures. The β-diversity of rotifers in rhizosphere soils was primarily driven by geographical location, whereas rotifer communities in bulk soils showed weaker responses to environmental variables. Stochastic processes predominantly shaped the community assembly of rotifer communities in both rhizosphere and bulk soils. Our study provides new insights into the rotifer community assembly in agricultural ecosystems and suggests that plant hosts can have significant impacts on soil rotifer communities.