Grazing and nitrogen addition restructure the spatial heterogeneity of soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activities

Chen, YangQuan; Vilonen, Leena; Qu, Yue; Xiao, Fu; Shi, Baoku; Cui, Haiying; Gao, Weifeng; Cai, Huiying; Sun, Wei

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13926

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…In N‐limited systems, N fertilization has direct positive effects on EMF by enhancing SAN (Figure 3a), which can be readily acquired and utilized by plants. Our threshold of N addition rate was lower than that in the previous studies (5–10 g N m −2 yr −1 ; Bai et al, 2010; Cui et al, 2022), probably because N return by livestock urine and excrement and atmospheric N deposition is not accounted for analysis (Wang, Wu, et al, 2021; Wang, Zhang, et al, 2021). Meanwhile, the increased magnitude of multifunctionality was lower at the higher N levels (Figure 4).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 72%

“…This is evidenced by the decline in certain ecological parameters (e.g., SAN, STN, and AGB) integrated with EMF under intensive livestock grazing and nitrogen addition (Figure 3a, b, d, f). These are mainly because excess N inputs and overgrazing may result in the homogenization of soil nutrients (Eldridge et al, 2020) and inadequate P, which could further affect soil processes, microbial community structure and enzymatic activities (Wang, Wu, et al, 2021; Wang, Zhang, et al, 2021) and result in decreasing EMF. In addition, both grazing and N addition increased CWM N , which further promotes food palatability for grazing animals and increases the removal of plant biomass, resulting in lower EMF.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, grazing and N deposition occur simultaneously and are difficult to disentangle experimentally in the real world. Furthermore, grazing could probably affect the directions and magnitudes of N enrichment functioning on plant α‐diversity and ecosystem functions, because the influences of N addition on plant community composition and soil biotic and abiotic properties differ in grazed and non‐grazed areas (Wang, Wu, et al, 2021; Wang, Zhang, et al, 2021). Thus, it remains unknown whether the multifunctionality is related to α‐diversity in real‐world ecosystems under complicated anthropogenic environmental changes and grazing disturbance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

Wang

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Despite their significance, how interactions of plant diversity at multiple spatial scales and soil microbial stoichiometry alter a series of ecosystem functions (multifunctionality, EMF) in response to anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input and herbivores are poorly known. We conducted a 17-year sheep grazing experiment with 6-year N addition to explore the impacts of grazing (0, 2.7, 5.3 and 8.7 sheep ha À1 ) and N addition (N0, N5, N10 and N20, i.e., 0, 5, 10 and 20 g N m À2 yr À1 , respectively) on grassland functions and EMF via changes in plant α-and β-diversity, and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C: N) of soil microbes in a typical steppe. The results show that grazing or N addition alone significantly affected EMF with a treatment order of 2.7 and 8.7 sheep ha À1 > 0 and 5.3 sheep ha À1 for grazing intensity or N5 > N10 and N20 > N0 for N addition, which resulted in a significant higher EMF in the combination treatment of 2.7 sheep ha À1 and 5 g N m À2 yr À1 . Plant α-and β-diversity, and soil microbial C:N were the predominant drivers of changes in EMF. Grazing reduced EMF indirectly by decreasing the plant β-diversity. N addition promoted EMF indirectly by decreasing plant α-diversity. In addition, lower plant α-diversity enhanced EMF indirectly by increasing soil microbial C:N. Our results suggest that the negative effects of herbivore on EMF were stronger at larger spatial scales compared to the smaller local communities, while N addition could maintain a higher level of EMF at smaller scales rather than at the larger ones. Our results highlight that multiple spatial scales should be considered to fully unravel the effects of herbivore and eutrophication on ecosystem functions. Our results also demonstrate the important role of soil microbe in maintaining higher grassland multifunctionality, thus we should include the soil microbial functions (i.e., C and N transformation) in further studies. Our results suggest that grazing at a low grazing intensity of 2.7 sheep ha À1 with a low N supplementation of 5 g N m À2 yr À1 could maintain the most important ecosystem functions. Our work provides important insight into grassland conservation and management, aiming to maintain the capacity of grasslands to sustainably supply ecological and productive functions.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 72%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

Wang

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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“…Indeed, a few studies have reported strong interactions between nitrogen addition and precipitation variation on vegetation structure and ecosystem functions (Xu et al, 2012a;Lü et al, 2018). Nitrogen addition often leads to greater leaf photosynthetic rate and higher leaf area, which subsequently increase transpiration and water consumption rate (Liang et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2023a). Nitrogen addition is likely to further reduce belowground biomass allocation due to alleviation of soil nutrient limitation (Chen et al, 2018;Yan et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen addition regulates the effects of variation in precipitation patterns on plant biomass formation and allocation in a Leymus chinensis grassland of northeast China

Ren,

Wang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Front. Plant Sci.

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Global warming is predicted to change precipitation amount and reduce precipitation frequency, which may alter grassland primary productivity and biomass allocation, especially when interact with other global change factors, such as nitrogen deposition. The interactive effects of changes in precipitation amount and nitrogen addition on productivity and biomass allocation are extensively studied; however, how these effects may be regulated by the predicted reduction in precipitation frequency remain largely unknown. Using a mesocosm experiment, we investigated responses of primary productivity and biomass allocation to the manipulated changes in precipitation amount (PA: 150 mm, 300 mm, 450 mm), precipitation frequency (PF: medium and low), and nitrogen addition (NA: 0 and 10 g N m−2 yr−1) in a Leymus chinensis grassland. We detected significant effects of the PA, PF and NA treatments on both aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB); but the interactive effects were only significant between the PA and NA on AGB. Both AGB and BGB increased with an increment in precipitation amount and nitrogen addition; the reduction in PF decreased AGB, but increased BGB. The reduced PF treatment induced an enhancement in the variation of soil moisture, which subsequently affected photosynthesis and biomass formation. Overall, there were mismatches in the above- and belowground biomass responses to changes in precipitation regime. Our results suggest the predicted changes in precipitation regime, including precipitation amount and frequency, is likely to alter primary productivity and biomass allocation, especially when interact with nitrogen deposition. Therefore, predicting the influence of global changes on grassland structure and functions requires the consideration of interactions among multiple global change factors.

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“…For example, soil temperature heterogeneity is well known to drive heterogeneity in nutrient storage and cycling (Durán et al., 2018), and it is possible that this is mediated by soil community composition. Similarly, the spatial heterogeneity of soil water content not only affects the distribution of microbial communities but also directly influences heterogeneity in nutrient accessibility and availability (Shi et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2021). Furthermore, Wang et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting mechanisms of non‐vascular and vascular plants on spatial turnover in multifunctionality in the Antarctic continent

Cui,

Chen,

Song

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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Dominant plants play crucial roles in supporting the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Plants can influence the spatial heterogeneity of environmental factors, as well as the spatial turnover in the composition of soil communities (i.e. β‐diversity of soil communities). However, we still poorly understand how dominant plants drive the spatial turnover in multiple ecosystem functions (β‐multifunctionality hereafter), and to which extent the effects of dominant plants are mediated by changes in environmental heterogeneity and the β‐diversity of soil communities. Antarctica supports one of the most challenging environments on the planet including low temperature and water availability. Here, we collected soil samples under three dominant plants (lichen, moss and vascular plants) and bare ground. We measured carbon storage, nutrient availability, nutrient decomposition, microbial biomass and pathogen control to calculate β‐multifunctionality. Both non‐vascular and vascular plants were associated with increased β‐multifunctionality compared to bare ground. We further showed that lichen mainly affected β‐multifunctionality through soil temperature heterogeneity and β‐bacterial diversity. Similarly, moss mainly affected β‐multifunctionality through the spatial heterogeneity of soil water content and β‐bacterial diversity. However, vascular plants did not significantly affect environmental heterogeneity. Instead, the responses of β‐multifunctionality to vascular plants were mainly driven by the β‐diversity of soil communities. These results indicate that environmental heterogeneity is important for turnover in multiple ecosystem functions in early successional stages (dominated by non‐vascular plants), while the importance of soil communities' heterogeneity becomes more significant in late successional stages (dominated by vascular plants). Synthesis. Our findings highlight the fundamental role of dominant plants in controlling the spatial turnover in ecosystem functions, and suggest that accelerated succession under current climate warming may increase bacterial β‐diversity but decrease abiotic heterogeneity, thereby leading to both increases (e.g. regarding functions related to microbial biomass) and decreases (e.g. regarding functions related to nutrient availability) in β‐multifunctionality and hence the spatial turnover in levels of ecosystem functioning.

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Grazing and nitrogen addition restructure the spatial heterogeneity of soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activities

Abstract: 1. In grassland ecosystems, large herbivorous animal grazing activity and increasing nitrogen deposition strongly alter microbial community structure and function.

Cited by 14 publications

References 69 publications

Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

Nitrogen addition regulates the effects of variation in precipitation patterns on plant biomass formation and allocation in a Leymus chinensis grassland of northeast China

Contrasting mechanisms of non‐vascular and vascular plants on spatial turnover in multifunctionality in the Antarctic continent

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