Soil microbial diversity and network complexity drive the ecosystem multifunctionality of temperate grasslands under changing precipitation

Soil microbiomes play a critical role in regulating ecosystem multifunctionality. However, whether and how soil protists and microbiome interactions affect ecosystem multifunctionality under climate change is unclear. Here, we transplanted 54 soil monoliths from three typical temperate grasslands (i.e., desert, typical, and meadow steppes) along a precipitation gradient in the Mongolian Plateau and examined their response to nighttime warming, decreased, and increased precipitation. Across the three steppes, nighttime warming only stimulated protistan diversity by 15.61 (absolute change, phylogenetic diversity) but had no effect on ecosystem multifunctionality. Decreased precipitation reduced bacterial (8.78) and fungal (22.28) diversity, but significantly enhanced soil microbiome network complexity by 1.40. Ecosystem multifunctionality was reduced by 0.23 under decreased precipitation, which could be largely attributed to the reduced soil moisture that negatively impacted bacterial and fungal communities. In contrast, increased precipitation had little impact on soil microbial communities. Overall, both bacterial and fungal diversity and network complexity play a fundamental role in maintaining ecosystem multifunctionality in response to drought stress. Protists alter ecosystem multifunctionality by indirectly affecting microbial network complexity. Therefore, not only microbial diversity but also their interactions (regulated by soil protists) should be considered in evaluating the responses of ecosystem multifunctionality, which has important implications for predicting changes in ecosystem functioning under future climate change scenarios.

Reduced precipitation neutralizes the positive impact of soil warming on soil microbial community in a temperate oak forest

Changes in soil microbial community play an irreplaceable role in regulating nutrient cycling that shapes forest ecosystem responses to climate change. However, if the effect of experimental warming on soil microorganisms depends upon soil water availability, which is closely related to soil depth is generally not well decumented. We conducted an in situ simulation experiment in an oak forest to determine the response pattern of soil microbial community to manipulated drought and warming at different soil depths. The responses of soil microbial communities to reduced precipitation and soil warming were highly dependent upon soil depth. Reduced precipitation remarkably elevated top-soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) in the unwarmed plots but no effects occured in the warmed plots. Soil warming showed positive effects on top-soil MBC and MBN under ambient precipitation, whereas negative ones were found under decreased precipitation. Neither reduced precipitation nor soil warming displayed effects on sub-soil MBC and MBN. Reduced precipitation notably increased soil total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) as well as that of bacterial and gram-negative bacterial only at top-soil in the unwarmed plots. Soil warming showed positive effects on total PLFA, bacterial PLFA, and gram-negative bacterial PLFA at both top- and sub-soil under ambient precipitation. We found that the interactive effects of climate change on soil microorganisms varied with soil depth, indicating that multilayer soil models should be considered while assessing the relationship between soil and atmosphere carbon exchange. Further research is expected to explore the long-term response of soil microorganisms in soil vertical profiles to climate change.

Nitrogen deposition and decreased precipitation does not change total nitrogen uptake in a temperate forest

Decreased precipitation and increased anthropogenical by derived nitrogen (N) are important climate change factors that alter the availability of soil water and N which are crucial to root function and morphological traits. However, these factors are seldom explored in forests. To clarify how altered precipitation and N addition affect the uptake of organic and inorganic N by fine roots, a field hydroponic experiment using brief ¹⁵N exposures was conducted in a temperate forest in northern China. The root traits related to nutrient foraging (root morphology and mycorrhizal colonization) were measured simultaneously. Our results showed that all three tree species preferred ammonium (NH₄⁺) over glycine and nitrate (NO₃^-), and NH₄⁺ contributed 73% to the total N uptake from the soil. Uptake of glycine was higher than that of NO₃^-. Decreased precipitation, N addition, and their interaction increased NH₄⁺ uptake rate compared with the control. Decreased precipitation decreased the glycine and NO₃^- uptake rate. Moreover, N addition, decreased precipitation and their interaction changed root morphological traits and significantly decreased mycorrhizal colonization. Although our treatments resulted in changes to the root traits and the forms of N uptake by plants, the total amount of N uptake did not change among all treatments. We conclude that although fine root traits of dominant tree species in temperate forests have high plasticity in response to climate change, nutrient balance in plants causes the total amount of N uptake to remain unchanged.