Plant-Soil Interactions, Research Division Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland.
Plant-Soil Interactions, Research Division Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Aug 10;885:163683. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163683. Epub 2023 May 3.
Soil biota contribute substantially to multiple ecosystem functions that are key for geochemical cycles and plant performance. However, soil biodiversity is currently threatened by land-use intensification, and a mechanistic understanding of how soil biodiversity loss interacts with the myriad of intensification elements (e.g., the application of chemical fertilizers) is still unresolved. Here we experimentally simplified soil biological communities in microcosms to test whether changes in the soil microbiome influenced soil multifunctionality including crop productivity (leek, Allium porrum). Additionally, half of microcosms were fertilized to further explore how different levels of soil biodiversity interact with nutrient additions. Our experimental manipulation achieved a significant reduction of soil alpha-diversity (45.9 % reduction in bacterial richness, 82.9 % reduction in eukaryote richness) and resulted in the complete removal of key taxa (i.e., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi). Soil community simplification led to an overall decrease in ecosystem multifunctionality; particularly, plant productivity and soil nutrient retention capacity were reduced with reduced levels of soil biodiversity. Ecosystem multifunctionality was positively correlated with soil biodiversity (R = 0.79). Mineral fertilizer application had little effect on multifunctionality compared to soil biodiversity reduction, but it reduced leek nitrogen uptake from decomposing litter by 38.8 %. This suggests that natural processes and organic nitrogen acquisition are impaired by fertilization. Random forest analyses revealed a few members of protists (i.e., Paraflabellula), Actinobacteria (i.e., Micolunatus), and Firmicutes (i.e., Bacillus) as indicators of ecosystem multifunctionality. Our results suggest that preserving the diversity of soil bacterial and eukaryotic communities within agroecosystems is crucial to ensure the provisioning of multiple ecosystem functions, particularly those directly related to essential ecosystem services such as food provision.
土壤生物群落在地球化学循环和植物性能等多个生态系统功能中起着重要作用。然而,土壤生物多样性目前正受到土地利用集约化的威胁,而对于土壤生物多样性丧失如何与众多集约化因素(例如,化肥的应用)相互作用的机制理解仍未得到解决。在这里,我们在微宇宙中实验性地简化土壤生物群落,以测试土壤微生物组的变化是否会影响包括作物生产力(韭菜,Allium porrum)在内的土壤多功能性。此外,将一半的微宇宙施肥,以进一步探索不同水平的土壤生物多样性如何与养分添加相互作用。我们的实验操作实现了土壤α多样性的显著降低(细菌丰富度降低 45.9%,真核生物丰富度降低 82.9%),并导致关键类群的完全去除(即,丛枝菌根真菌)。土壤群落简化导致生态系统多功能性整体下降;特别是,随着土壤生物多样性的减少,植物生产力和土壤养分保持能力降低。生态系统多功能性与土壤生物多样性呈正相关(R=0.79)。与土壤生物多样性减少相比,矿物肥料的应用对多功能性的影响较小,但它减少了韭菜从分解凋落物中吸收氮的 38.8%。这表明自然过程和有机氮获取受到施肥的影响。随机森林分析显示,一些原生动物(即 Paraflabellula)、放线菌(即 Micolunatus)和厚壁菌门(即芽孢杆菌)成员是生态系统多功能性的指示物。我们的结果表明,在农业生态系统中保留土壤细菌和真核生物群落的多样性对于确保多种生态系统功能的提供至关重要,特别是与食物供应等基本生态系统服务直接相关的功能。