Early Response of Rhizosphere Microbial Community Network Characteristics to Thinning Intensity in Pinus massoniana Plantations

Rhizosphere microorganisms mediate the material exchange and chemical cycling between plant roots and soil. However, the response mechanisms of the rhizosphere microbial community, especially its co-occurrence patterns, to thinning remain poorly understood. We investigated the rhizosphere microbial communities of <i>Pinus massoniana</i> under different thinning intensities, including control (CK, 0%), light-intensity thinning (LIT, 10%), moderate-intensity thinning (MIT, 30%), and high-intensity thinning (HIT, 50%). Basic taxonomic information was obtained through high-throughput sequencing, while R software was utilized to identify thinning-sensitive operational taxonomic units (tsOTUs), construct co-occurrence networks, and perform other statistical analyses. Although no discernible patterns were observed in α-diversity changes, the Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that season was the primary factor driving α-diversity variation. Meanwhile, thinning intensity significantly shaped the rhizosphere microbial community structures, with each intensity harboring a specific tsOTUs subset. Although the top three modules of the meta-co-occurrence networks in summer and winter exhibited consistent tsOTU composition, winter triggered changes in network connectivity. Regardless of summer or winter, the number of network nodes under MIT was the highest. Additionally, after thinning, the relative abundances of most keystone taxa declined; however, MIT facilitated the enrichment of certain keystone taxa. Collectively, thinning profoundly shapes microbial community composition and network characteristics. Moderate thinning intensity may represent the optimal thinning intensity for the studied <i>P. massoniana</i> plantations.