Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment最新文献

{"title":"The vital role of pollination services in seed production: A global review","authors":"Falk Krumbe,&nbsp;Simone Melder,&nbsp;Arndt Feuerbacher","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109745","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109745","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Animal pollinators play a fundamental role in the reproductive processes of both wild and cultivated plants, impacting global agriculture. In the face of global declines in biodiversity, especially in insect biodiversity, this study reviews the critical role of pollination services in the seed production of food crops. While previous reviews assess the influence of pollinators on primary food production, this review extends it to seed production, an essential precursor in the agricultural supply chain. Here we add to the existing body of literature by reviewing the dependence on pollination services in seed production of major crops that are propagated via seeds. Out of the 74 crops analyzed, 17 depend essentially on pollinators, 22 are highly dependent, 8 moderately dependent, whereas 1 shows little dependence and 6 no dependence at all. For 20 crops no conclusive data has been found. Globally significant crops, such as carrots and various clover species, are among the identified pollinator-dependent species. Moreover, some of the crops do not rely on pollinators for primary production, and are thus potentially overlooked in assessments that focus solely on fruit yields. Lastly, we highlight the importance of analyzing the effect that pollinators have on different yield components, the economic value of pollinators in seed production, and the need for further research on the contribution of pollinators to seed production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109745"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling hidden threats: Nitrate pollution in agricultural catchments with deep vadose zone","authors":"Min Ren ,&nbsp;Xining Zhao ,&nbsp;Ruxin Shao ,&nbsp;Mingyi Wen ,&nbsp;Xiaodong Gao ,&nbsp;Liuyang Yu ,&nbsp;Nanfang Ma ,&nbsp;Ting Yang ,&nbsp;Jingdan Zhao ,&nbsp;Changjian Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109819","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109819","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Identifying dominant nitrogen sources in groundwater and surface water is critical for controlling non-point source (NPS) pollution in agricultural watersheds. However, in regions with deep vadose zones (&gt;4 m) and limited precipitation. However, in regions with deep vadose zones (&gt;4 m) and limited precipitation, the hidden threats of agricultural NPS pollution remain critically understudied due to prolonged pollution retention and insufficient transport dynamics. Here, we investigated the transport routes of surplus N and the driving mechanism of NPS pollution in a semi-humid agricultural catchment with vadose zone thickness exceeding 80 m and large-scale apple orchards, through a combined approach of questionnaire survey, hydrochemistry, multi-isotope tracer technology (δ¹⁵N-NO₃, δ¹⁸O-NO₃, δ²H-H₂O, δ¹⁸O-H₂O) and MixSIAR model. The results indicated that the high nitrogen input and surplus in apple orchards led to an annual potential nitrogen loss in runoff up to 257.88 kg·ha⁻¹, 3.7 times that of croplands. Heavy precipitation was the main driving force for the loss of residual soil nitrogen. As the main form of inorganic nitrogen in water, the nitrate concentration in surface water peaked at 8.63 mg L⁻¹ during heavy rainfall, approaching the drinking water safety threshold of World Health Organization. Simultaneously, precipitation contribution to surface water increased sharply to 66.2 %. This resulted in a rapid rise in the proportion of nitrate derived from fertilizer and soil nitrogen, rising from 2 % to 90 %. Thus, the surface water nitrate mainly originated from agricultural surplus nitrate during heavy precipitation. In contrast, during periods without heavy precipitation, groundwater was the dominant source (&gt;80 %) of surface water recharge, making groundwater the main source of surface water nitrate. Critically, the deep vadose zone has effectively impeded the leaching of agricultural surplus nitrate into groundwater so far. Therefore, groundwater nitrate and surface water nitrate without heavy precipitation both mainly (&gt; 90 %) originated from manure and sewage. This study emphasized that heavy precipitation periods were the high-risk intervals for nitrogen NPS pollution in agricultural area with deep vadose zone and limited precipitation, providing scientific support for targeted NPS pollution prevention and control strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109819"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global meta-analysis shows an indispensable role of pollinator diversity in promoting fruit quality","authors":"Anne Christine Ochola ,&nbsp;Denis Mburu Njoroge ,&nbsp;Xiao-Li Shao ,&nbsp;Robert Wahiti Gituru ,&nbsp;Qing-Feng Wang ,&nbsp;Chun-Feng Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109829","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109829","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global pollinator decline threatens pollination services, biodiversity, and food security. However, large knowledge gaps remain regarding how pollinator diversity influences agricultural productivity, particularly in relation to multiple fruit quality traits. Here, we conducted a comprehensive global assessment of 79 studies with 451 effect sizes to investigate whether and how pollination services affect various fruit quality traits including organoleptic traits (e.g., size, shape, firmness) and nutritional traits (e.g., carbohydrates, macronutrients, micronutrients). Our analysis confirmed that animal pollination significantly enhances fruit quality by more than 30 %, a finding that is consistently observed across different ecological and agricultural systems, although such effects vary across different quality traits. For instance, organoleptic quality traits are highly dependent on the existence of animal pollination but are insensitive to high-quality pollination. Meanwhile, nutritional quality traits are promoted by increases in both pollinator species richness and visitation rate, although they are less affected by the presence or absence of animal pollination, suggesting a need for high-quality pollination. Interestingly, further analyses revealed that pollinator species richness promotes fruit micronutrients, while visitation rate enhances fruit macronutrients, indicating a complementary role of wild and managed pollinators in boosting fruit quality. Our results highlight the exclusive role of pollinator diversity in sustainable agriculture and therefore reinforce the rationale for wild pollinator conservation in the face of global pollinator decline.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109829"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nine years of grazing and fertilization shape dynamics of soil phosphorus fractions in Karst pasture ecosystems","authors":"Wangfei Qin ,&nbsp;Rui Dong ,&nbsp;Xinyao Gu ,&nbsp;Shaokun Hu ,&nbsp;Song Cui ,&nbsp;Xuechun Zhao ,&nbsp;Jihui Chen ,&nbsp;Yinglai Shi ,&nbsp;Chao Chen ,&nbsp;Yuan Li ,&nbsp;Narasinha Shurpali ,&nbsp;Mikko Järvinen ,&nbsp;Anna Gunina ,&nbsp;Yingwen Yu ,&nbsp;Zhou Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109826","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109826","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding soil phosphorus (P) cycling is critical for sustaining grassland productivity and soil health, especially in P-limited karst ecosystems. This study evaluated the long-term effects of three pasture management strategies — grazed-abandoned pasture (three years grazing followed by six years abandonment), continuous grazing without fertilization, and grazing with NPK fertilization—compared to unused land, in a subtropical karst region of Guizhou, China. Using a randomized complete block design established in 2012 (n = 4), soil samples were collected across five depths (0–45 cm) in 2012, 2015, and 2021 to assess changes in P fractions and related soil properties. Grazed-abandoned pasture had higher C/P and N/P ratios but lower soil organic matter than other treatments in the 0–10 cm soil. The effect of fertilized-grazed pasture on bioavailable P, active Po, and secondary mineral P shows an interannual cumulative effect; these effects shifted down the soil profile during the experiment. Grazed-abandoned pasture reduced total soil P and shifted P composition by increasing resin-extractable P at the expense of mineral and active organic P, maintaining available P. High acid and alkaline phosphatase activities in grazed-abandoned pasture supported organic P conversion and microbial biomass P. Grazed pasture did not alter the size or composition of P fractions but had lower MBP due to slower microbial P turnover. Fertilized-grazed pasture increased mineral and occluded P fractions (10,7–21 % of TP) and primarily supplied plants through NaHCO3-Pi and NaOH-Pi, with 1 M HCl-Pi. Thus, fertilization combined with grazing proved most effective in enhancing soil P availability and supporting long-term soil fertility, while abandonment may reduce P sustainability in karst grasslands. These findings provide important insights for optimizing pasture management in fragile subtropical ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109826"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Responses of rice paddy dragonflies to fertilisation in a mesocosm experiment","authors":"Thea Bulas ,&nbsp;Benedikt R. Schmidt ,&nbsp;Christoph Vorburger ,&nbsp;Yvonne Fabian","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109823","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109823","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Freshwater biodiversity has been decreasing globally, with wetland habitats facing significant loss due to climate change and changes in land use. In Switzerland, over 90 % of low-elevation wetland habitats have been lost since 1850, mainly due to land transformation for agriculture. Recently, farmers started cultivating paddy rice in Switzerland to meet the increasing food demand and to support wetland biodiversity, particularly dragonflies. However, rice is often produced at high fertiliser levels, raising concerns about potentially harmful effects of high nutrient levels on dragonflies developing in rice paddies. Here, we assessed the impacts of nitrogen fertilisers on dragonflies from a conservation perspective. We exposed three dragonfly species to mineral and organic fertilisers at different concentrations in experimental mesocosms mimicking rice paddies. The effects of fertilisation on survival as well as development time and size at emergence were quantified. In total, 77 % of all dragonfly larvae survived until emergence, and survival was not significantly affected by either fertiliser type at concentrations that are used in Swiss rice paddies (ranging from 25 kg N/ha to 150 kg N/ha). Also, there were no negative impacts of any fertiliser type and concentration on emergence time and body size, which albeit differed significantly among the three dragonfly species. The study thus provides valuable and encouraging insights for conservation and management strategies aimed at promoting wetland biodiversity, particularly the diverse and vulnerable dragonflies, through paddy rice cultivation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109823"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced rice phosphorus use efficiency under elevated atmospheric CO2 and its drivers","authors":"Haiwei Zhang ,&nbsp;Ting Xiao ,&nbsp;Zihua Shi ,&nbsp;Rui Ren ,&nbsp;Yu Jiang ,&nbsp;Yanfeng Ding ,&nbsp;Songhan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109827","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109827","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil phosphorus (P) is the second most important nutrient for rice growth and development, but its use efficiency (PUE) is still very low. Meanwhile, the elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration during recent decades has increased the biomass and rice yield globally, but its impact on the PUE of rice is still not well understood. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effect of elevated CO₂ on PUE of rice and its underlying mechanisms, based on the evidence from two-years field free-air CO₂ enhancement (FACE) experiment and the results from a global meta-analysis, we use the open-top chamber (OTC) to explore its underlying mechanism. Results showed that compared to atmospheric CO₂ (ACO₂), elevated CO₂ (ECO₂) has significantly increased the PUE of rice, with a magnitude of 16.6 %. The effects of elevated CO₂ on PUE was higher for Japonica rice than that for Indica rice. These findings were also confirmed by the results from a global meta-analysis. Results based on OTC experiments showed that the aboveground biomass (AGB) of rice increased by 27.8 % and the soil available P increased by 20.3 % with elevated CO₂., two possible drivers accounting for the positive CO₂ effect on rice PUE were investigated, of which one was the enhanced aboveground biomass and the other one was the enhanced soil phosphatase and available P content, both could increase the P accumulation of rice under elevated CO₂ conditions. Further analysis showed that these two factors jointly controlled the elevated PUE at elevated CO₂ conditions, of which the contribution from enhanced aboveground biomass was larger. These findings thus suggested that elevated CO₂ will promote the absorption of P and accelerate the P cycles in rice soils. Our results also could provide important benefits for forming management strategies to balance the contradiction between increasing demand for food and limited P fertilizer resources in the context of climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109827"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil organic matter fractions in the topsoil and subsoil of woody crop systems: Impact of reduced tillage plus cover crops under rainfed semi-arid Mediterranean conditions","authors":"Stallone Da Costa Soares ,&nbsp;Cristina Fernández-Soler ,&nbsp;Efraín Carrillo-López ,&nbsp;María Martínez-Mena","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109821","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109821","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carbon dynamics in deep layers have potential for soil C sequestration and contribute to the fight against global climate change, however, in Mediterranean regions, most studies focus on the top 20–30 cm soil layer. To advance this knowledge, this study proposes to investigate the behavior of different SOC compartments in the topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (15–60 cm) in two rainfed almond orchards under conditions typical of Mediterranean regions. The treatments evaluated included seeded cover crops (SCC), and spontaneous cover crops (NCC) combined with reduced tillage and traditional tillage (TT). Moreover, an undisturbed natural reference area (forest) representing the pre-cultivated conditions was included. Samples from two experimental sites (Burete and Cagitán) were collected at intervals of 0–15, 15–30, 30–50 and 50–60 cm, and quantified bulk density, soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and Nitrogen (PON), hot water extractable carbon (HWOC) and short-term mineralizable carbon (SMC). The results showed that the use of cover crops and reduced tillage improve microbial activity, increase soil organic matter fractions, and improve carbon storage, both in the topsoil and subsoil, being an effective and useful strategy for the improvement of soil C sequestration under rainfed almond crop systems in semi-arid areas. In addition, the positive effect of cover crops on SOC storage would have been underestimated by about 35–40 % without accounting for the stock at the 30–60 cm layer. The use of different organic carbon and nitrogen fractions has furthered the understanding of soil carbon dynamics and proved effective in detecting differences among soil management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109821"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Woodlands as refuges and resources for paddy spider communities: Varying importance with land consolidation intensity","authors":"Pengyao Li ,&nbsp;Ruxia Qin ,&nbsp;Mingzhu Shen ,&nbsp;Changliu Wang ,&nbsp;He Xiao ,&nbsp;Jian Liu ,&nbsp;Wenjin Qian ,&nbsp;Meichun Duan","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109815","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109815","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Land consolidation (LC) is vital for addressing land fragmentation and enhancing agricultural mechanisation, but it is often associated with farmland biodiversity loss. Preserving semi-natural habitats has been proposed as a solution, but their relative importance as refuges or resource providers for biodiversity at different LC intensities remains unclear. In a well-facilitated farmland demonstration area with high-intensity LC and the surrounding agricultural areas with low-intensity LC, we surveyed epigeic spiders in rice paddies and nearby semi-natural woodlands. We examined how LC intensity affected (1) spider communities activity density, species richness, and community composition in paddies and woodlands and (2) the influence of surrounding woodlands on spiders in paddies. Spider activity density in woodlands was higher than in paddies at high LC intensity but not at low LC intensity. Although spider species composition in paddies altered with LC intensity, that in woodlands remained unaffected. In the species-habitat network of generalist spiders, paddies with low LC intensity showed stronger interactions with woodlands than those with high LC intensity. While paddy spider species richness increased with landscape-scale woodland cover, their activity density increased only at low LC intensity. These results suggested that at high LC intensity, woodlands supported a larger proportion of spider communities across habitats, acting as more important refuges. At low LC intensity, woodlands benefited paddy spiders more effectively, serving as more important resources. These findings highlight the importance of preserving and managing semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes, considering their varying roles across LC intensities, to support biodiversity-friendly LC design and restoration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109815"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bacterial community structure and resilience are partially restored after 30 years of rehabilitation of an agricultural riparian system","authors":"Tolulope G. Mafa-Attoye ,&nbsp;Dasiel Obregon ,&nbsp;Micaela Tosi ,&nbsp;Maren Oelbermann ,&nbsp;Naresh V. Thevathasan ,&nbsp;Kari E. Dunfield","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109813","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109813","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil microbiomes play critical roles in maintaining soil ecosystem functions, and therefore, they can be indicators of ecosystem recovery during the rehabilitation of degraded land. This study compared microbial community structure and co-occurrence patterns of potentially active bacterial communities in soils from a disturbance gradient: disturbed agricultural land (AGR), previously disturbed rehabilitated agroforest (RHF), and undisturbed natural forest (UNF). We quantified DNA and cDNA using qPCR and performed high-throughput amplicon sequencing to target potentially active bacterial communities. Bacterial transcript abundance was significantly higher in UNF compared to AGR, and the composition of potentially active bacterial communities varied significantly along the disturbance gradient. Soil temperature, nitrate, pH, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and total carbon were key soil properties driving differences in bacterial community composition. Key taxa such as <em>Burkholderiales, Haliangium,</em> and <em>Pseudomonas,</em> were differentially abundant along the disturbance gradient. Network robustness was used to evaluate network resilience and was highest in UNF, lowest in AGR, and RHF was intermediate, suggesting partial recovery of RHF following disturbance. Hub taxa from AGR were oligotrophs mainly from the phylum Actinomyceota, while forest soils hubs were from the phylum Pseudomonodata. UNF was the only site to have copiotrophic hub taxa such as <em>TRA3–20,</em> reflecting a functionally diverse network assembly in the nutrient-rich and less disturbed conditions. These findings show that after 30 years of rehabilitation the RHF has a similarity to UNF in terms of microbial abundance, composition, and soil characteristics, suggesting a recovery in ecosystem functionality at the site.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109813"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144312733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced multifunctionality of sandy loam soil with co-application of biochar and organic manure is driven by microbial network complexity rather than community diversity","authors":"Xing Ma ,&nbsp;Jing Wang ,&nbsp;Kang Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhen Yang ,&nbsp;Yuru Gao ,&nbsp;Aijiao Wu ,&nbsp;Wenqing Chen ,&nbsp;Zhouping Shangguan ,&nbsp;Miaochun Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109812","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109812","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the prevalent application of biochar and organic manure in agro-ecosystems, their combined effects on the restoration of sandy soils mediated by microbial mechanisms remain understudied. Here, we conducted a field experiment in the Mu Us sandy land to characterize the responses of soil microbiomes (bacteria, fungi, protists) and ecosystem functions (soil fertility, plant growth, material cycling, carbon mineralization potential) to co-application of biochar and organic manure with planting. The experiment incorporated three levels of biochar (0, 25, 50 t/hm²), two levels of organic manure (0, 10 t/hm²), and four levels of plants (1, 3, 5, 9 legume or grass species). The results indicated that both biochar and organic manure, but not plants, contributed to significant enhancement in soil multifunctionality. The greatest soil multifunctionality was observed at the high biochar rate with organic manure, which increased by 52 % compared to the lowest multifunctionality observed under no application of biochar and organic manure. This was manifested by increased contents of soil organic carbon (761 %), total nitrogen (207 %), and total phosphorus (67 %), alongside stimulated plant growth, despite greater carbon mineralization potential. Various microbial communities exhibited differential responses to biochar and organic manure treatments, with decrease in bacterial diversity and increase in protistan diversity. Fungal diversity positively responded to biochar application rate only. Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus emerged as the primary factors driving shifts in bacterial, fungal, and protistan communities. The complexity of microbial networks varied across treatments and positively correlated with the rate of organic manure (bacteria), biochar (fungi), or both (protist), but there was no response to planting. Linear regression analysis revealed a negative correlation between bacterial diversity and soil multifunctionality (<em>R</em>² = 0.14, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). Protistan diversity (<em>R</em>² = 0.14, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) and microbial network complexity (bacteria: <em>R</em>² = 0.25, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001; fungi: <em>R</em>² = 0.13, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01; protists: <em>R</em>² = 0.36, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) were positively correlated with soil multifunctionality. Variance partitioning analysis indicated that microbial network complexity had a greater influence on soil multifunctionality than community diversity, underscoring the role of microbial interactions. Our results indicate that the co-application of biochar and organic manure, not plants, enhances the multifunctionality of sandy loam soil, with microbiome complexity serving as a critical predictor of changes in soil functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"393 ","pages":"Article 109812"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144307512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}