Reseeding promotes plant biomass by improving microbial community stability and soil fertility in a degraded subalpine grassland
Debao Li,
Sicheng Li,
Hao Chen,
Jianping Wu
Affiliations
Debao Li
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Ecosecurity of Southwest China, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China; Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Health in Universities of Yunnan Province, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Sicheng Li
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Ecosecurity of Southwest China, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China; Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Health in Universities of Yunnan Province, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Hao Chen
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Ecosecurity of Southwest China, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China; Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Health in Universities of Yunnan Province, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Jianping Wu
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Ecosecurity of Southwest China, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China; Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Health in Universities of Yunnan Province, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China; Corresponding author at: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Ecosecurity of Southwest China, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology and Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
Forage monoculture and grass-legume mixtures are popular reseeding practices in degraded grasslands. However, the mechanism understanding for the effect of multiple reseeding approaches on soil microbial community and their associated ecosystem functioning remains unclear. Here, we conducted a 3-year field reseeding experiment with eight treatments in a degraded grassland in southern China to test how the link between plant biomass and soil microbial community stability are influenced by plant community structure. Assessments of both above- and below-ground characteristics revealed that reseeding significantly improved plant biomass, soil fertility, and community stability by 53.96 %-126.32 %, 40.74 %-106.91 %, and 13.97 %–33.17 % (P < 0.05) on average, respectively. Furthermore, we found that plant biomass, soil fertility, and microbial community stability increased with increasing number of reseeding species. Dactylis glomerata, Trifolium repens and Lolium perenne mixed-reseeding had significantly higher plant biomass, soil fertility, and microbial community stability than monocultures (P < 0.05). Microbial community stability was positively correlated with plant biomass (P < 0.001). Our field work demonstrates that grass-legume mixtures are beneficial for plant biomass and soil microbes, where stable microbial communities are essential for maintaining ecosystem functions. As such, our findings provide new evidence to guide reseeding practices in degraded southern grasslands and offer novel theoretical insights into plant-soil-microbe interactions under grass-legume mixtures reseeding.
