Responses of plant diversity and soil microorganism diversity to nitrogen addition in the desert steppe, China
YE He1,2, HONG Mei1,2,*(), XU Xuehui1,2, LIANG Zhiwei1,2, JIANG Na1,2, TU Nare1,2, WU Zhendan1,2
1College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Soil Quality and Nutrient Resources, Hohhot 010018, China 2Key Laboratory of Agricultural Ecological Security and Green Development at University of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010018, China
Nitrogen (N) deposition is a significant aspect of global change and poses a threat to terrestrial biodiversity. The impact of plant-soil microbe relationships to N deposition has recently attracted considerable attention. Soil microorganisms have been proven to provide nutrients for specific plant growth, especially in nutrient-poor desert steppe ecosystems. However, the effects of N deposition on plant-soil microbial community interactions in such ecosystems remain poorly understood. To investigate these effects, we conducted a 6-year N-addition field experiment in a Stipa breviflora Griseb. desert steppe in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Four N treatment levels (N0, N30, N50, and N100, corresponding to 0, 30, 50, and 100 kg N/(hm2•a), respectively) were applied to simulate atmospheric N deposition. The results showed that N deposition did not significantly affect the aboveground biomass of desert steppe plants. N deposition did not significantly reduce the alfa-diversity of plant and microbial communities in the desert steppe, and low and mediate N additions (N30 and N50) had a promoting effect on them. The variation pattern of plant Shannon index was consistent with that of the soil bacterial Chao1 index. N deposition significantly affected the beta-diversity of plants and soil bacteria, but did not significantly affect fungal communities. In conclusion, N deposition led to co-evolution between desert steppe plants and soil bacterial communities, while fungal communities exhibited strong stability and did not undergo significant changes. These findings help clarify atmospheric N deposition effects on the ecological health and function of the desert steppe.
YE He, HONG Mei, XU Xuehui, LIANG Zhiwei, JIANG Na, TU Nare, WU Zhendan. Responses of plant diversity and soil microorganism diversity to nitrogen addition in the desert steppe, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2024, 16(3): 447-459.
Table 1 Effects of nitrogen (N) treatments on plant biomass
Fig. 1Biomass of plant functional group compositions (a), non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plot illustrating distances between plant community compositions (b), and plant Shannon index (c) under different N treatments. In Figure 1a, R value is the ANOSIM (analysis of similarities) statistic R, and P value is the significance from permutation; in Figure 1b, different lowercase letters within the same treatment indicate significant differences among different plant functional groups at P<0.05 level; in Figure 1c, different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N treatments at P<0.05 level. N0, control; N30, 30 kg N/(hm2•a); N50, 50 kg N/(hm2•a); N100, 100 kg N/(hm2•a). Bars are standard errors. The abbreviations are the same in the following figures.
Variable
N0
N30
N50
N100
pH
8.38±0.01a
8.36±0.06a
8.30±0.06a
8.20±0.05a
TN (g/kg)
1.88±0.14a
1.84±0.10a
1.83±0.08a
1.92±0.12a
SOC (g/kg)
18.84±1.09a
20.64±1.58a
20.91±0.49a
21.05±0.69a
C/N
10.13±0.51a
11.22±0.47a
11.47±0.30a
11.12±0.43a
NH4+-N (mg/kg)
1.38±0.14c
2.36±0.57c
6.15±0.20b
14.7±0.90a
NO3−-N (mg/kg)
9.46±1.11b
12.72±0.77b
26.95±1.26b
100.26±10.31a
Table 2 Effects of N treatments on soil physical-chemical characteristics
Fig. 2Relative abundance of dominant bacterial phyla (a), fungal phyla (b), and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plot illustrating distances between microbial community composition for bacteria (c) and fungi (d) under different N treatments
Fig. 3Shannon index and Chao1 richness for soil bacterial community (a and b) and fungal community (c and d) under different N treatments. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different N treatments at P<0.05 level. Bars are standard errors.
Fig. 4Redundancy analysis (RDA) of environmental factor with bacteria (a) and fungi (b). AGB, aboveground biomass; TN, total nitrogen; SOC, soil organic carbon; C/N, soil organic carbon/total nitrogen.
Variable
Actino- bacteriota
Proteo- bacteria
Acido- bacteriota
Chloro- flexi
Gemmati- monadota
Firmi-cutes
Bacteroi-dota
Myxoco- ccota
pH
-0.34
-0.52*
0.45
0.70**
-0.55*
-0.44
-0.71**
-0.09
TN
0.35
-0.11
-0.26
0.25
-0.16
0.07
-0.22
0.26
SOC
0.32
0.06
-0.33
0.02
0.13
0.30
0.02
0.18
C/N
-0.06
0.20
-0.06
-0.30
0.33
0.26
0.28
-0.15
NH4+-N
0.57*
0.09
-0.38
-0.48
0.35
0.26
0.24
-0.10
NO3--N
0.55*
0.12
-0.38
-0.42
0.25
0.28
0.22
-0.13
Shannon index
-0.24
-0.16
0.17
0.41
-0.14
-0.38
-0.06
0.20
AGB
0.06
-0.06
0.02
-0.27
0.16
-0.01
0.08
-0.22
Perennial grasses
-0.38
0.12
0.16
0.20
-0.14
0.08
-0.21
0.11
Annuals and biennials
0.22
-0.01
-0.07
-0.38
0.19
0.00
0.26
-0.18
Table S1 Correlation between environmental factors and dominant bacterial phyla
Variable
Ascomycota
Basidiomycota
Mortierellomycota
Chytridiomycota
pH
-0.19
0.20
-0.24
0.02
TN
0.08
-0.14
0.36
0.48
SOC
-0.12
0.05
0.31
0.47
C/N
-0.22
0.24
-0.15
-0.04
NH4+-N
0.15
-0.10
-0.21
0.31
NO3--N
0.25
-0.22
-0.16
0.43
Shannon index
-0.40
0.35
0.02
-0.25
AGB
0.14
-0.12
-0.05
-0.23
Perennial grasses
0.06
-0.12
0.39
-0.18
Annuals and biennials
0.20
-0.16
-0.19
-0.02
Table S2 Correlation between environmental factors and dominant fungal phyla
Plant community
pH
TN
SOC
C/N
NH4+-N
NO3--N
Shannon index
0.41
-0.29
-0.14
0.16
-0.53*
-0.58*
AGB
-0.30
-0.25
-0.34
-0.08
0.36
0.28
Perennial grasses
0.24
0.12
0.16
0.02
-0.73**
-0.62**
Annuals and biennials
-0.46
-0.19
-0.29
-0.09
0.62**
0.55*
Table S3 Correlation between soil properties and plant community
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