{"title":"Keystone microbial phylotypes support plant productivity along a gradient of degradation in alpine wetlands of Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Liyan Zhang, Chunjiang Yin, Xin Jing, Hao Wang, Jin-Sheng He, Haiyan Chu","doi":"10.1007/s11104-025-07553-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Aims</h3><p>Net primary productivity (NPP) is critical for understanding carbon sink and ecosystem functions, especially in alpine wetlands that degrade rapidly. Soil keystone taxa serve as ecosystem engineers and may influence aboveground NPP (ANPP), but this is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the ANPP from 2012 to 2014 in alpine wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to investigate the relationships between soil biodiversity of keystone phylotypes and ANPP.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>The bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified using prokaryotic universal primers 515F and 907R, the archaeal 16S rRNA gene was amplified using primers Arch519F and Arch915R, and the eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene was amplified using primers Euk1391f and EukBr.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Plant diversity was positively correlated with ANPP (<i>R</i><sup><i>2</i></sup> = 0.25, <i>P</i> < 0.001). The diversity of soil archaea was positively correlated with ANPP (<i>R</i><sup><i>2</i></sup> = 0.24, <i>P</i> < 0.001<b>)</b>, with bacteria and eukaryotes showing no significant statistical relationships. The microbial network analysis revealed three major ecological clusters (Clusters 1–3) accounting for 98.8% of the constructed microbial co-occurrence networks. Diversity of Cluster 2 was more strongly positively correlated with ANPP than Cluster 1 and Cluster 3. Structural equation model analysis demonstrated that the contribution of plant diversity to ANPP was offset by soil biodiversity, especially coexisting phylotypes in ecological clusters.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Our results indicate that keystone phylotypes are associated with plant productivity, and highlight the need to conserve them to ensure the sustainable provision of alpine ecosystem services in fragile alpine ecosystems. </p>","PeriodicalId":20223,"journal":{"name":"Plant and Soil","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Plant and Soil","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07553-w","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aims
Net primary productivity (NPP) is critical for understanding carbon sink and ecosystem functions, especially in alpine wetlands that degrade rapidly. Soil keystone taxa serve as ecosystem engineers and may influence aboveground NPP (ANPP), but this is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the ANPP from 2012 to 2014 in alpine wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to investigate the relationships between soil biodiversity of keystone phylotypes and ANPP.
Methods
The bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified using prokaryotic universal primers 515F and 907R, the archaeal 16S rRNA gene was amplified using primers Arch519F and Arch915R, and the eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene was amplified using primers Euk1391f and EukBr.
Results
Plant diversity was positively correlated with ANPP (R2 = 0.25, P < 0.001). The diversity of soil archaea was positively correlated with ANPP (R2 = 0.24, P < 0.001), with bacteria and eukaryotes showing no significant statistical relationships. The microbial network analysis revealed three major ecological clusters (Clusters 1–3) accounting for 98.8% of the constructed microbial co-occurrence networks. Diversity of Cluster 2 was more strongly positively correlated with ANPP than Cluster 1 and Cluster 3. Structural equation model analysis demonstrated that the contribution of plant diversity to ANPP was offset by soil biodiversity, especially coexisting phylotypes in ecological clusters.
Conclusions
Our results indicate that keystone phylotypes are associated with plant productivity, and highlight the need to conserve them to ensure the sustainable provision of alpine ecosystem services in fragile alpine ecosystems.
期刊介绍:
Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.