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Wang C, Yu W, Ma L, Ye X, Erdenebileg E, Wang R, Huang Z, Indree T, Liu G. Biotic and abiotic drivers of ecosystem multifunctionality: Evidence from the semi-arid grasslands of northern China. Sci Total Environ 2023; 887:164158. [PMID: 37187396 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystem functioning plays a crucial role in maintaining human welfare. Terrestrial ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services simultaneously, such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, water purification, and biodiversity conservation, known as ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). However, the mechanisms by which biodiversity, abiotic factors, and their interactions regulate EMF in grasslands are unclear. We conducted a transect survey to illustrate the single and combined effects of biotic factors (including plant species diversity, trait-based functional diversity, community-weighted mean (CWM) of traits, and soil microbial diversity) and abiotic factors (including climate and soil) on EMF. Eight functions were investigated, including aboveground living biomass and litter biomass, soil bacterial biomass, fungal biomass, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomass, and soil organic carbon storage, total carbon storage and total nitrogen storage. We detected a significant interactive effect between plant species diversity and soil microbial diversity on the EMF; Structural equation modeling showed that soil microbial diversity indirectly affected EMF by regulating plant species diversity. These findings highlight the importance of the interaction effects of above- and below-ground diversity on EMF. Both plant species diversity and functional diversity had similar explanatory power for the variation in EMF, implying that niche differentiation and multifunctional complementarity among plant species and traits are essential in regulating the EMF. Furthermore, the effects of abiotic factors on EMF were stronger than those of biotic factors via direct, and indirect pathways affecting above- and below-ground biodiversity. As a dominant regulator, the soil sand content was negatively correlated with EMF. These findings indicate the vital role of abiotic mechanisms in affecting EMF, and deepen our understanding of the single and combined effects of biotic and abiotic factors on EMF. We conclude that soil texture and plant diversity, representing crucial abiotic and biotic factors, respectively, are important determinants of the EMF of grasslands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Congwen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Wanying Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, Jilin, China.
| | - Linna Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Xuehua Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Enkhmaa Erdenebileg
- Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 13330, Mongolia
| | - Renzhong Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Zhenying Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Tuvshintogtokh Indree
- Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 13330, Mongolia
| | - Guofang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
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