Abstract:As global eco-environmental issues have aroused increasing concern, ecological restoration has become a key research topic. As an emerging technology for ecological restoration, aggregate spray-seeding offers significant advantages in vegetation restoration.Objective To reveal the relationship between plant community assembly and soil microbial communities during the aggregate spray-seeding restoration process.Methods A comprehensive investigation was conducted at plots of various seeding batches on the slopes of Changqin Island in Zhuhai City, focusing on the internal relationships of the structures of pioneer plant communities with soil nutrient content and characteristics of soil fungal and bacterial communities.Results The soil fungal community in the aggregate spray-seeding restoration area of Changqin Island was mainly composed of 9 phyla, among which Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were dominant. The soil bacterial community was dominated by Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteriota, and Bacteroidota. The soil fungi of plant pathogens, wood saprotrophs, and endophytes exhibited high abundance, while a large proportion of bacteria were involved in nitrogen cycling. Using the support vector machine method, we identified 24 soil microbial and nutrient indicators related to differences across aggregate spray-seeding batches. The cluster analysis classified the main restoration plants into two groups and the 24 soil-microbial and nutrient indicators into four categories. The inter-group correlation analysis showed significant associations of plant combinations with soil microbial and nutrient indicators.Conclusion Substantial differences in community structure and diversity are observed among different aggregate spray-seeding batches. Plant community assembly significantly influences the structures and functions of soil microbial communities. The findings of this study provide essential theoretical support for ecological restoration practices, contributing to the optimization of restoration strategies and enhancing ecosystem stability and sustainability.