Soil water availability strongly alters the community composition of soil protists

摘要: Abstract Drought and heavy rainfall are contrasting conditions expected to result from increasingly extreme weather during climate change; both scenarios will strongly affect the functioning of soil systems. However, little is known about specific responses microorganisms, whose intimately tied magnitude water-filled pore space in soil. Soil heterotrophic protists, being important aquatic organisms considered as key-regulators microbial nutrient turnover. We investigated distinct protist taxa changes water availability (SWA) using a modified enumeration technique that enabled quantification up genus level. Our study revealed non-linear shift abundance with decreasing SWA this became apparent at maximum size ≤40 μm. Generally, containing large specimen were more severely affected by drought, but either drought or rewetting soils not uniform among taxa. Changes may thus key ecosystems long before aboveground “drought” effects become apparent.