Nitrogen and water additions with or without mowing altered soil microbial community characteristics in a semi-arid steppe
Abstract Background The temperate grasslands are facing numerous pressures from global change. Despite their essential ecological and economic role, how their microbial communities react to multiple varying factors remain obscure. In this study, we simulated three global change drivers, i.e., nitrog...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ecological Processes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-024-00568-8 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Background The temperate grasslands are facing numerous pressures from global change. Despite their essential ecological and economic role, how their microbial communities react to multiple varying factors remain obscure. In this study, we simulated three global change drivers, i.e., nitrogen deposition (ambient N vs. elevated N, aN vs. eN), precipitation increase (ambient precipitation vs. elevated precipitation, aP vs. eP), and mowing, represented experimentally by clipping (unclipped vs. clipped, uC vs. CL), together in all possible combinations in a temperate semi-arid grassland ecosystem. Results Nitrogen addition had negative effects on the richness of bacterial and fungal communties, significantly changed their structures (P < 0.05) and increased their dissimilarities (P < 0.05), while water addition had positive effects on fungal and protist communities and significantly stimulated the α-diversity of protist communities under N addition without clipping, which was in contrast to the effect in clipped plots. Clipping had a marginal effect on fungal communities and significantly affected protist communities (P < 0.05). A notable interactive effect of N and precipitation on the structure of bacterial communities and a significant interactive effect of clipping and precipitation on protists were found. Combination effects of N with precipitation or clipping on module aggregation of meta-networks were also observed between uC and CL, as well as aP and eP meta-networks. Bacterial, fungal, and protist communities varied in their assembly mechanisms, and their assembly processes differed in response to the three global change factors. Conclusions Overall, N, water addition, and clipping individually and/or interactively, in distinct degrees, altered soil microbial interaction, community structure, and the potential function in a semi-arid steppe. These findings enhance our understanding of soil microbial community assembly and provide a scientific basis for managing temperate grasslands, particularly in the context of global change's impact on ecosystem function and stability. |
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| ISSN: | 2192-1709 |