Zhang Yeming, Gao Xiuli, Yuan Ye, Hou Lei, Dang Zhenhua, Ma Linna
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolian Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China.
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Plants (Basel). 2023 Oct 31;12(21):3743. doi: 10.3390/plants12213743.
Biodiversity plays a crucial role in driving multiple ecosystem functions in temperate grasslands. However, our understanding of how biodiversity regulates the impacts of desertification processes on ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) remains limited. In this study, we investigate plant diversity, soil microbial diversity (fungal, bacterial, archaeal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) diversity), soil properties (soil water content, pH, and soil clay content), and multiple ecosystem functions (soil N mineralization, soil phosphatase activity, AMF infection rate, microbial biomass, plant biomass, and soil C and nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Na, Cu, Mg, and Mn)) at six different grassland desertification intensities. The random forest model was conducted to assess the importance of soil properties, plant diversity, and soil microbial diversity in driving EMF. Furthermore, a structural equation model (SEM) was employed to analyze the indirect and direct impacts of these predictors on EMF. Our study showed that plant, soil bacterial, fungal, and archaeal diversity gradually decreased with increasing desertification intensity. However, only AMF diversity was found to be less sensitive to desertification. Similarly, EMF also showed a significant decline with increasing desertification. Importantly, both plant and soil microbial diversity were positively associated with EMF during desertification processes. The random forest model and SEM revealed that both plant and soil microbial diversity were identified as important and direct predictors of EMF during desertification processes. This highlights the primary influence of above- and below-ground biodiversity in co-regulating the response of EMF to grassland desertification. These findings have important implications for planned ecosystem restoration and sustainable grassland management.
生物多样性在推动温带草原的多种生态系统功能方面发挥着关键作用。然而，我们对于生物多样性如何调节荒漠化过程对生态系统多功能性（EMF）的影响的理解仍然有限。在本研究中，我们调查了六种不同草原荒漠化强度下的植物多样性、土壤微生物多样性（真菌、细菌、古菌和丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）多样性）、土壤性质（土壤含水量、pH值和土壤黏土含量）以及多种生态系统功能（土壤氮矿化、土壤磷酸酶活性、AMF侵染率、微生物生物量、植物生物量以及土壤碳和养分（氮、磷、钾、钙、铁、钠、铜、镁和锰））。运用随机森林模型评估土壤性质、植物多样性和土壤微生物多样性在驱动EMF方面的重要性。此外，采用结构方程模型（SEM）分析这些预测因子对EMF的间接和直接影响。我们的研究表明，随着荒漠化强度的增加，植物、土壤细菌、真菌和古菌的多样性逐渐降低。然而，仅发现AMF多样性对荒漠化不太敏感。同样，EMF也随着荒漠化的加剧而显著下降。重要的是，在荒漠化过程中，植物和土壤微生物多样性均与EMF呈正相关。随机森林模型和SEM显示，在荒漠化过程中，植物和土壤微生物多样性均被确定为EMF的重要且直接的预测因子。这突出了地上和地下生物多样性在共同调节EMF对草原荒漠化响应方面的主要影响。这些发现对规划中的生态系统恢复和可持续草原管理具有重要意义。
