Biodiversity drives ecosystem multifunctionality in sandy grasslands?

Wenda Huang; Yuanzhong Zhu; Hailun Yu; Yuanzheng He; Xin Zhao; Huaihai Wang; Shangbin Shi

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171765

Biodiversity drives ecosystem multifunctionality in sandy grasslands?

Sci Total Environ. 2024 May 15:925:171765. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171765. Epub 2024 Mar 17.

Authors

Wenda Huang¹, Yuanzhong Zhu², Hailun Yu³, Yuanzheng He², Xin Zhao⁴, Huaihai Wang², Shangbin Shi²

Affiliations

¹ Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donggang West Road 320, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730000, China; Key Laboratory of Stress Physiology and Ecology in Cold and Arid Regions, Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China. Electronic address: huangwd@lzb.ac.cn.
² Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donggang West Road 320, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donggang West Road 320, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730000, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Stress Physiology and Ecology in Cold and Arid Regions, Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China.

PMID: 38499099
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171765

Abstract

Plant communities and soil microbiomes play a crucial role in regulating ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). However, whether and how aboveground plant diversity, belowground soil microbial diversity and interactions with environmental factors affect EMF in sandy grasslands under climate change conditions is unclear. Here, we selected 15 typical grassland communities from the Horqin sandy grassland along temperature and precipitation gradients, using the mean annual temperature (AMT), mean annual precipitation (AP), soil temperature (ST), soil water content (SW) and pH as abiotic factors, and plant diversity (P_D) and soil microbial diversity (S_D) as biodiversity indicators. The effects of biodiversity and abiotic factors on individual ecosystem functions and EMF were studied. We found that P_D and its components, plant species richness (S_R), species diversity (P_R) and genetic diversity (G_D), had significant effects on aboveground biomass (AGB) and major factors involved in ecosystem nitrogen cycling (plant leaf nitrogen content (PLN) and soil total nitrogen content (STN)) (P < 0.05). Soil fungal diversity (F_R) has a greater impact on ecosystem function than soil bacteria (B_R) and archaea (AB_R) in sandy grasslands and mainly promotes the accumulation of soil microbial carbon and nitrogen (MBC, MBN) (P < 0.05), STC and STN (P < 0.01). P_D and two types of S_D (F_R and AB_R) significantly regulated EMF (P < 0.01). Among the abiotic factors, soil pH and SW regulated EMF (P < 0.05), and SW and ST directly drove EMF (P < 0.05). P_D drove EMF significantly and indirectly (positively) through soil pH and ST (P < 0.001), while S_D drove EMF weakly and indirectly (negatively) through AP and P_D (P > 0.05). P_D was a stronger driving force on EMF than S_D. These results improve our understanding of the drivers of multifunctionality in sandy grassland ecosystems.

Keywords: Aboveground biodiversity; Belowground biodiversity; Climate gradients; Driving factors; Ecosystem multifunctionality; Sandy grasslands.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
Ecosystem*
Grassland
Microbiota*
Nitrogen / analysis
Plants
Sand
Soil / chemistry

Substances

Sand
Soil
Nitrogen