To reveal the altitudinal distribution pattern and driving factors of soil fungal communities in Sabina przewalskii natural forests, thereby providing a theoretical basis and scientific support in the field of soil microbiology for the ecological protection of the Qilian mountains.

Focusing on the Sabina przewalskii natural forests soil at different altitudes in Qilian mountains, the high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the diversity and community composition of soil fungi and explore the main factors influencing the soil fungal community structure.

A total of 6 phyla, 27 classes, 81 orders, 170 families, 295 genera and 355 species of soil fungi were discovered across different altitudes at the phylum level, Basidiomycota and Ascomycota dominated the fungal communities, with relative abundances of 0.22-0.66 and 0.11-0.39. Hygrocybe and Mortierella were the dominant genera. There were significant differences in soil fungal among different altitudes (P<0.05), with the richness and diversity of soil fungal communities at low and medium altitudes being significantly higher than those at high altitudes. Overall, the soil fungal diversity first increased and then decreased with increasing altitude. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Spearman correlation analysis showed that altitude, soil pH, SOM, TP, AK and AP were the key environmental factors affecting the community structure and diversity distribution pattern of soil fungal.

The soil fungal community in Sabina przewalskii natural forests of the Qilian mountains is rich in composition, with Basidiomycota and Ascomycota as the dominant phyla. Soil pH, AP and TP are the core variables driving the soil fungal community structure. In addition, fungal diversity is negatively correlated with altitude and HN, while positively correlated with AK and SOM.