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AimsConversion from pure plantations to mixed plantations can significantly increase forest productivity and provide better ecosystem services, yet there is still a lack effective of assessment methods to determine how this conversion affects belowground biodiversity and ecological functions.MethodsWe conducted an in-situ experiment to investigate the impacts of forest conversion (Cunninghamia lanceolata pure plantations vs. C. lanceolata-Betula luminifera mixed plantations) on soil multifunctionality, bacterial composition, network patterns and assembly mechanisms in southern subtropical China.ResultsThe results showed that compared with monoculture plantations, most soil physicochemical properties and enzyme activities were higher in mixed plantations. The mixed plantations increased bacterial α-diversity, and community structure differed between the two forest types. Network analysis showed that the network structure of the mixed plantation was more complex and stable, and contained more keystone taxa. Furthermore, stochastic processes primarily governed the assembly of bacterial communities. Forest conversion increased habitat niche breadth and the importance of stochastic processes. Based on PICRUSt2, the mixed plantations significantly increased soil multifunctionality and bacterial functions (e.g., carbohydrate metabolism and energy metabolism). Moreover, variations in the bacterial community and functionality were highly correlated with soil pH and nutrients.ConclusionsOur study showed that the conversion of monoculture plantations into mixed plantations enhances soil fertility and has more positive benefits. The changes in soil bacterial composition and function were mainly mediated by soil pH and nutrient increases caused by forest conversion, which contributes to assessing the eco-environmental effects of mixed planting in reforestation.

Background and aims Above- and belowground biodiversity determines the capacity of ecosystems to provide multiple functions simultaneously (i.e., multifunctionality), while their relative importance along environmental gradients remains unclear. Our objective of this study was to investigate how plant and microbial diversity along an altitudinal gradient affected soil multifunctionality in grasslands. Methods The effects of plant and microbial (including bacteria, fungi and archaea) diversity on soil multifunctionality were estimated along a 2300 m altitudinal gradient across six grassland types in the Tianshan Mountain, China. The soil multifunctionality was calculated based on 12 parameters related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous cycling, and soil nutrient status. Results The relative importance of plant and microbial diversity to soil multifunctionality shifted at an altitude of 1900 m while threshold for each soil function varied along altitudinal gradient. At low altitudes (< 1900 m), plant species richness showed a robust positive effect and had a more substantial impact on soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity. Altitude had a significant effect on plant species richness via indirect means by altering soil moisture. At high altitudes (> 1900 m), soil multifunctionality was influenced by a combination of plant and microbial diversity. Similarly, fungal richness was positively associated with soil multifunctionality, while archaeal richness had the opposite effect. Conclusion The effect of plant and soil microbial diversity on soil multifunctionality was mediated by altitude in grasslands, which can guide the restoration efforts aimed to maximize soil multifunctionality in grassland ecosystems.

Background Soil multifunctionality (SMF), which was used to mirror the ability of soil to deliver multiple functions simultaneously, is an effective index that reflects ecosystem value. Understanding the response of SMF to stand density is important for developing management strategies to improve the stability of the forest ecosystems. Methods Robinia pseudoacacia plantations with different stand densities (750, 1125, and 1550 trees ha −1 ) were selected in Ansai District, Yan’an City, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. We evaluated the SMF by measuring soil physicochemical properties and soil enzyme activities. We investigated changes in SMF and the composition of bacterial and fungal communities among plantations with different stand densities, and also determined the relationships between SMF and soil microbial community structure and edaphic properties. Results Changes in stand density significantly affected SMF and soil fungal community structure. Compared to low-density (750 trees ha −1 ) and high-density (1550 trees ha −1 ) plantations, medium-density (1125 trees ha −1 ) plantations had increased SMF and fungal richness. Mantel tests showed a positive correlation between the SMF and soil water content and fungal richness. The main fungal biomarkers of medium-density plantations were from the class Dothideomycetes. Conclusion Medium-density stand improved soil multifunctionality by increasing fungal richness and soil water content in R. pseudoacacia plantations. Further research is required to verify these hypotheses and determine whether there are causations between SMF and fungal richness or soil water content. Our work highlights the need to conserve soil water and biodiversity through stand density management to improve soil multifunctionality in R. pseudoacacia plantations.

Aims The positive soil biodiversity and multifunctionality relationship has been widely recognized, however in agricultural ecosystems, this relationship is context dependent and could be altered by land use intensity (LUI). Understanding how LUI affects soil microbial community and multifunctionality (SMF) is instructive for optimizing external inputs and managements. Methods We sampled soils from three cropping systems (cotton, wheat-maize and vegetable) with different LUI, sequenced both bacterial and fungal communities, and quantified the multifunctionality by averaging carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling functions. The relationship between soil microbial diversity and SMF was further explored. Results The results showed that the positive effects of soil microbial diversity on SMF was significantly affected by LUI. In general, LUI decreased SMF and both bacterial and fungal diversity. Cotton and wheat-maize rotation systems with relatively lower LUI showed higher microbial diversity and SMF compared with the vegetable system, which had the highest LUI and the lowest SMF. Moreover, bacterial but not fungal diversity drove this positive relationship between microbial diversity and SMF in both cotton and wheat-maize systems but not in the vegetable system, indicating a larger bacterial effect in lower LUI system. Random forest and structural equation modeling further confirmed bacterial diversity and composition contributed to SMF mainly via promoting carbon and phosphorus cycling. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of LUI in influencing the relationships of biodiversity-SMF and further demonstrate that soil microbial diversity conservation with less anthropogenic disturbances is important for supporting soil functioning in agroecosystems.

PurposeUnderstanding the interactions among soil microbial communities, soil multifunctionality, and soil-borne pathogens are important for ecological prevention and control of soil-borne diseases. In this study, we aimed to compare the differences in microbial communities and multifunctionality between healthy and Alternaria solani-infected potato rhizosphere soils. Additionally, we investigated the relationships among soil microbial communities, soil multifunctionality, and potato early blight incidence.MethodsWe collected healthy and Alternaria solani-infected potato rhizosphere soil samples from a potato field in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. Amplicon sequencing was used to detect changes in soil microbial communities. The Z scores (standard scores) of soil chemical properties, soil enzyme activities, and potato yield were averaged to obtain soil multifunctionality.ResultsWe found significantly reduced potato yield, soil multifunctionality, and bacterial richness under diseased conditions. Additionally, there were significant differences between healthy and diseased rhizosphere soil microbial communities. Specific microbial taxa including Kaistobacter, Candidatus Koribacter, Candidatus Solibacter, Rhodoplanes, Bradyrhizobium, Gynumella, Massilia, Alicyclobacillus, Mycochlamys, and Conocybe were enriched in diseased rhizosphere soils. The complexity of microbial co-occurrence networks decreased. The proportion of positive correlations among microbial taxa decreased, whereas the proportion of negative correlations increased in diseased rhizosphere soils. These changes were strongly associated with decreased soil multifunctionality.ConclusionOur results increased our comprehension of the interactions among soil microbial communities, multifunctionality, and potato early blight, thus providing important implications for the design and implementation of control strategies against soil-borne diseases in the future.

Aims Determining the soil factors that drive the dynamics of soil-borne pathogens is an essential step toward the formulation and implementation of strategies for the control of plant diseases. Methods We sampled 48 healthy and infected soils in peanut fields from six counties in Eastern China to explore the relationships between soil multifunctionality, microbial communities, and peanut stem rot pathogen, Athelia rolfsii . Results The results showed that peanut stem rot infection did not affect soil microbial richness, but it increased soil multifunctionality, altered the microbial community composition, and decreased the complexity of microbial co-occurrence networks significantly. Soil biotic and abiotic factors had markedly effects on A. rolfsii , and specific soil functions and microbial taxa were significantly associated with A. rolfsii abundance. Soil multifunctionality and microbial community compositions negatively affected A. rolfsii abundance, while the effects of bacterial and fungal richness were contrasting for healthy and infected soils. Longitude and latitude indirectly and positively affected A. rolfsii abundance. Conclusions The results demonstrate that soil multifunctionality and microbial communities play a vital role in regulating the dynamics of peanut stem rot pathogen, which could enhance our understanding of the relationships between soil factors, pathogen dynamics, and plant health.

Aims Crop rotation plays an important role in changing soil microbial communities, which is critical to maintaining soil multifunctionality. However, limited data exist on the long term impact of crop rotations on soil multifunctionality and its link with soil fungal community in drylands. Methods In a dryland field experiment with 30-year legume- and non-legume-based winter wheat rotations and winter wheat-fallow system, we investigated the soil multifunctionality (via cycling and pools of soil carbon and nitrogen) and the overall community and functional groups of soil fungi. The links between soil multifunctionality and fungal communities were also explored. Results We found that long-term crop rotation increased soil multifunctionality index and that of carbon cycle. Crop rotation shifted soil fungal community composition, and reduced the proportion of putative pathotrophs. The overall fungal community was almost equally explained by soil and plant variables, while fungal functional groups (i.e., saprotrophs and pathotrophs) were more affected by soil variables. The indicator taxa in the non-legume-winter wheat rotation were distinctly different from those in the legume-based winter wheat rotation soils, indicating that the non-legume-winter wheat rotation selects different fungal taxa from the legume-based winter wheat rotation. Moreover, the changes in community composition of soil fungi, putative saprotrophs and pathotrophs were related to soil multifunctionality and that of carbon and nitrogen cycles. Conclusions Our results highlight that long-term crop rotations shape the soil fungal communities; the changes in soil fungi and fungal functional groups have potential to improve soil multifunctionality in the crop rotation systems in drylands.

1. The prominent new place of ecosystem services in environmental policy, land management and land planning requires that the best ecological knowledge be applied to ecosystem service quantification. Given strong evidence that functional diversity underpins the delivery of key ecosystem services, assessments of these services may progress rapidly using a trait-based approach. 2. The trait-based approach shows promising results, especially for plant trait effects on primary production and some processes associated with carbon and nitrogen cycling in grasslands. However, there is a need to extend the proof of concept for a wider range of ecosystems and ecosystem services and to incorporate not only the functional characteristics of plants but those of other organisms with which plants interact for the provision of ecosystem services. 3. The five papers in this Special Feature illustrate how some of the key conceptual and methodological challenges can be resolved, and provide a range of case studies across three continents. Relevant plant functional traits depict different axes of variation including stature, the leaf economics spectrum, and associated or independent variations in root or stem traits. The application of the trait approach to ecosystem processes underpinned by interactions between plants and other biota is illustrated for soil micro-organisms and granivorous invertebrates. There is strong evidence for the biomass ratio hypothesis (i.e. prevalent effects of the traits of dominant species through the community-weighted mean), along with less prevalent and more complex effects of heterogeneous trait values between species (i.e. functional divergence). 4. Synthesis. Together, the five papers in this Special Feature illustrate how trait-based approaches may help elucidate the complexity of ecological mechanisms operating in the field to determine ecosystem service delivery. To address scientific and management questions about the provision of multiple services, progress is needed in understanding how functional trade-offs and synergies within organisms scale up to interactions between ecosystem services. Service-oriented ecosystem management within the context of global change, or ecological restoration, remains a major challenge, but trait-based understanding opens new avenues towards more generic, integrated approaches.

Purpose Agricultural soil multifunctionality is greatly impacted by belowground processesdriven by a complex group of microorganisms that change during plant growth. While most studies in microbial diversity and multifunctionality have focused on soil bacteria or fungi, they have largely overlooked the influence of key microbiome predators- the protists and other microorganisms. Methods We manipulated microbial alpha diversity using a dilution-to-extinction approach. Wheat varieties were employed to investigate the effects of manipulated microbial alpha diversity on rhizosphere microbes (including bacteria and eukaryotes-fungi and protists) and soil multifunctionality (nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and plant productivity) during a two-month re-colonization period. Results The recovery and re-colonization of the belowground microbial communities were primarily influenced by dilution rather than wheat variety. Random forest (RF) analysis indicated that changes induced by dilution and plant variety in bacterial and protistan assembly in the rhizosphere had stronger effects on soil multifunctionality than those in bulk soil and root endosphere. Reduced microbial diversity led to a decrease in specific functions, such as phosphorus mineralization and nitrification, but did not affect broad functions like microbial respiration and organic decomposition. The rare taxa, such as those belonging to bacterial Burkholderiaceae , Rhizobiaceae , and Sphingobacteriaceae , and protistan Cercozoa , Ochrophyta , and Chlorophyta crucially influenced soil multifunctionality. Conclusion The critical role of rhizosphere protistan and bacterial communities in soil multifunctionality underscores the importance of plant-induced shifts in belowground microbial assembly for the resilience of soil multifunctionality to biodiversity loss Moreover, rhizosphere rare bacterial and protistan taxa contributed more to ecosystem functions than expected based on their abundance.

Fertilizers are widely used to produce more food, inevitably altering the diversity and composition of soil organisms. The role of soil biodiversity in controlling multiple ecosystem services remains unclear, especially after decades of fertilization. Here, we assess the contribution of the soil functionalities of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling to crop production and explore how soil organisms control these functionalities in a 33-year field fertilization experiment. The long-term application of green manure or cow manure produced wheat yields equivalent to those obtained with chemical N, with the former providing higher soil functions and allowing the functionality of N cycling (especially soil N mineralization and biological N fixation) to control wheat production. The keystone phylotypes within the global network rather than the overall microbial community dominated the soil multifunctionality and functionality of C, N, and P cycling across the soil profile (0–100 cm). We further confirmed that these keystone phylotypes consisted of many metabolic pathways of nutrient cycling and essential microbes involved in organic C mineralization, N 2 O release, and biological N fixation. The chemical N, green manure, and cow manure resulted in the highest abundances of amoB, nifH , and GH48 genes and Nitrosomonadaceae, Azospirillaceae, and Sphingomonadaceae within the keystone phylotypes, and these microbes were significantly and positively correlated with N 2 O release, N fixation, and organic C mineralization, respectively. Moreover, our results demonstrated that organic fertilization increased the effects of the network size and keystone phylotypes on the subsoil functions by facilitating the migration of soil microorganisms across the soil profiles and green manure with the highest migration rates. This study highlights the importance of the functionality of N cycling in controlling crop production and keystone phylotypes in regulating soil functions, and provides selectable fertilization strategies for maintaining crop production and soil functions across soil profiles in agricultural ecosystems.