Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

作者：Lan Li, Mengyuan Wang, Xiong Zhao He, Zhen Wang, Xiumin Zhang, Junqi Hu, Ling Huang, Fujiang Hou · 发表于：Land Degradation and Development · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1002/ldr.4652 · 被引用次数：21 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Pasture and Agricultural Systems

Abstract Despite their significance, how interactions of plant diversity at multiple spatial scales and soil microbial stoichiometry alter a series of ecosystem functions (multifunctionality, EMF) in response to anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input and herbivores are poorly known. We conducted a 17‐year sheep grazing experiment with 6‐year N addition to explore the impacts of grazing (0, 2.7, 5.3 and 8.7 sheep ha −1 ) and N addition (N0, N5, N10 and N20, i.e., 0, 5, 10 and 20 g N m −2 yr −1 , respectively) on grassland functions and EMF via changes in plant α‐and β‐diversity, and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) of soil microbes in a typical steppe. The results show that grazing or N addition alone significantly affected EMF with a treatment order of 2.7 and 8.7 sheep ha −1 > 0 and 5.3 sheep ha −1 for grazing intensity or N5 > N10 and N20 > N0 for N addition, which resulted in a significant higher EMF in the combination treatment of 2.7 sheep ha −1 and 5 g N m −2 yr −1 . Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial C:N were the predominant drivers of changes in EMF. Grazing reduced EMF indirectly by decreasing the plant β‐diversity. N addition promoted EMF indirectly by decreasing plant α‐diversity. In addition, lower plant α‐diversity enhanced EMF indirectly by increasing soil microbial C:N. Our results suggest that the negative effects of herbivore on EMF were stronger at larger spatial scales compared to the smaller local communities, while N addition could maintain a hi...