Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment最新文献

{"title":"Crop diversity in the landscape boosts pollinators and yield of pollinator dependent crops across the world.","authors":"Tuanjit Sritongchuay, Michael Beckmann, Bo Dalsgaard, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Angela Lausch, Anders Nielsen, Julia Osterman, Peter Selsam, Kanuengnit Wayo, Ralf Seppelt","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2025.109943","url":null,"abstract":"There is a global concern about the decline of wild pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide. Although land-use change is a major threat to biodiversity, it is still poorly understood how land-use heterogeneity (or land-use structure) impacts pollinator communities and entomophilous crop production. Based on a literature review, we performed a meta-analysis to (1) assess how landscape structure, both composition and configuration, affects pollinator species richness and abundance, and (2) examine the impact of landscape structure on the production of key entomophilous crops. We extracted information on pollinator communities and crop production from 101 studies with a total of 920 site replicates distributed widely across the globe. To obtain landscape structure (total area of all crops, crop diversity, and landscape Shannon’s Diversity Index) information, we sourced data from the database Map-SPAM as well as satellite images. We found that pollinator species richness increased with the number of crop species in the surrounding area. Pollinator abundance increased with the number of different crops but decreased with increasing agricultural area in the surrounding landscape. Crop production of several crops was associated with landscape heterogeneity. Notably, fruit set increased with an increasing number of crop species in neighbouring fields and decreased with increasing agricultural area, that is, when nature is substituted with agriculture in the surrounding landscape. We also found positive correlations between edge density of an area and pollinator species richness and entomophilous crop production suggesting that edge density can be used as a landscape structure indicator to assess pollinator diversity. The effects of landscape structure were more pronounced in crops with high pollinator dependence, showing stronger relationships with both pollinator diversity and crop production. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining landscape heterogeneity through crop diversity and natural habitats to support pollinators and their services, though unmeasured factors such as intensification or local management may also play a role.","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"83 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009059","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":"Deep tillage with straw retention increased organic carbon sequestration and enhanced homogenization of microbial communities and functions across soil depths","authors":"Shuaimin Chen,&nbsp;Wei Fan,&nbsp;Haiyan Wu,&nbsp;Song Cheng,&nbsp;Jianzhao Liu,&nbsp;Zuowei Fan,&nbsp;Yao Liang,&nbsp;Hongguang Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109949","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109949","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intensive agricultural practice has resulted in a rapid decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks due to insufficient organic material replenishment in the black soils of Northeast China. Straw retention has emerged as a promising management strategy for improving soil productivity and optimizing straw resource utilization. This study aimed to analyse the changes in SOC and its dynamics by examining the correlations between SOC fractions, carbon-related microbial functions and microbial community composition under different tillage methods combined with straw retention. Compared with conventional tillage without straw retention (CT), deep tillage with straw retention (DS) significantly increased the SOC content in the 0–40 cm soil layer (30.5 %–36.5 %), and no-tillage with straw mulching (MS) significantly increased the SOC content by 45.5 % in the 0–20 cm soil layer. In addition, the DS and MS treatments significantly contributed to the proportion of recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) to SOC. The increase in lignin phenol (LP) content was more pronounced than that of microbial necromass carbon (MNC) in the soil layers with straw retention. N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG) and ROC were the most important factors affecting SOC. Microbial community analysis revealed that the bacterial composition underwent more significant changes under the DS treatment than under the MS treatment, particularly in the 20–40 cm soil layer. Semi-labile organic carbon (LOC II) and MNC were key determinants of the microbial community structure. These findings suggest that the DS treatment enhances subsoil carbon sequestration and facilitates homogenization of microbial functions and communities across soil depths, potentially enhancing soil carbon capture and storage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109949"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009060","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":"Bats provide valuable services in conventional apple orchards","authors":"Qiuya Wang ,&nbsp;Li Wang ,&nbsp;Yu Liu ,&nbsp;Ruizhu Zhou ,&nbsp;Jiang Feng ,&nbsp;Tinglei Jiang ,&nbsp;Hui Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109953","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109953","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>One-tenth of the global bat species is distributed in China, and 90 % of them are insectivorous. As a global leader in apple production, China's apple industry plays a vital role in boosting the income of local farmers. However, the role of insectivorous bats in suppressing apple pests and the resultant benefits to the apple industry have not been previously reported. This study investigated the dietary components of insectivorous bats, the relationship between bat activity and the abundance of prevalent insects, and the economic value of bat pest suppression services in apple orchards using DNA metabarcoding technology, acoustic monitoring, and exclosure experiments. The results showed that bats consumed various apple pests in multiple primary apple-producing regions. Moreover, bat activity was significantly and positively correlated with the abundance of the most prevalent insects. Finally, long-term exclosure experiments demonstrated that the presence of bats significantly reduced leaf herbivory and increased apple yield. Bats prevented a 4.2 % loss (897.556 kg/ha) in apple yield by preying on leaf-feeding apple pests. The economic value of the apple pest control services, which was estimated using the cultivation area, prices of apples, and exchange rate, was estimated to be ¥11.62–14.97 billion ($1.63–2.10 billion) annually. In conclusion, this study confirmed that bats prey on various pests, suppress leaf herbivory, and increase apple yield through the trophic cascade effects, providing economic benefits. Thus, these findings underscore the importance of integrating bat diversity conservation and ecosystem services into future integrated pest management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109953"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144996959","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":"Short-term grazing exclusion is more conducive to the rate of soil organic carbon stock in alpine grassland of the Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Mengqi Zhang ,&nbsp;Tiancai Zhou ,&nbsp;Ruowei Li ,&nbsp;Chen Zhang ,&nbsp;Yunhui Li ,&nbsp;Tianyuan Liu ,&nbsp;Hongyan Yu ,&nbsp;Eryuan Liang ,&nbsp;Jian Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109955","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109955","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite grazing exclusion (GE) having been applied to rehabilitate the degraded grassland across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) extensively, the impact of the GE on the rate of soil organic carbon stock change (R_SOCs) remains contentious. Herein, we explored the influences of fencing on soil carbon sequestration rate via the Alpine Fence Observation Net (34 paired field observation sites). This study aimed to quantify how soil depth and GE duration influence soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation rates across alpine grasslands. Our results indicated that GE significantly increased SOC accumulation in the topsoil, with the highest R_SOCs observed in the 0–10 cm soil layer (2.46 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), followed by 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm layers. Meanwhile, the R_SOCs reduced with the duration of GE and finally reached stability after about 10 years. Besides, the fencing duration was also a key driver regulating the R_SOCs of alpine meadows (<em>R</em>² = 0.26, <em>P</em> &lt; 0.01) and steppes (<em>R</em>² = 0.43, <em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). Taken together, our findings highlight that short-term GE (less than 10 years) can be a useful practice that contributes to carbon sequestration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109955"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144996957","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":"Biochar mitigates the suppressive effects of nitrogen deposition on soil methane uptake in a subtropical forest","authors":"Jiashu Zhou ,&nbsp;Caixian Tang ,&nbsp;Tony Vancov ,&nbsp;Shenglei Fu ,&nbsp;Yunying Fang ,&nbsp;Tida Ge ,&nbsp;Yanfei Dong ,&nbsp;Yu Luo ,&nbsp;Bing Yu ,&nbsp;Yanjiang Cai ,&nbsp;Jason C. White ,&nbsp;Yongfu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109951","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109951","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Subtropical forests play a key role in sequestering atmospheric methane (CH₄), but rising nitrogen (N) deposition often suppresses soil CH₄ uptake. Biochar amendment has emerged as a promising approach to counteract this inhibitory effect; however, its effectiveness and underlying mechanisms remain unclear in subtropical forest soils. In a three-year field study, we evaluated the effects of N deposition (60 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and biochar amendment (10 t ha⁻¹), individually and combined, on soil CH₄ uptake, physicochemical properties, and microbial activities. Results showed that N deposition reduced annual CH₄ uptake by 17–23 %, while biochar alone increased this value by 11–25 %. When applied under N deposition, biochar led to a 26–42 % increase in annual CH₄ uptake. This enhancement was linked to increased water-soluble organic carbon level and elevated abundance of <em>pmoA</em> gene that encodes particulate methane monooxygenase, along with reduced concentrations of water-soluble organic nitrogen, NH₄⁺-N and NO₃⁻-N, and decreased abundance of <em>mcrA</em> gene that encodes methyl-coenzyme M reductase. These changes enhanced CH₄ oxidation rates and lowered CH₄ production rates, resulting in higher soil CH₄ uptake. The study highlights the capacity of biochar to strengthen soil CH₄ absorption within subtropical forests under N deposition by modulating carbon and nitrogen fractions and microbial functions. Applied at scale, biochar amendment in Moso bamboo forests across China could increase annual soil CH₄ uptake by approximately 6478 tons, offering a promising strategy for climate change mitigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109951"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989332","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":"Landscape-scale spatio-temporal variations of soil total nitrogen in a wind-eroded temperate grassland based on revisited sampling: The critical role of grassland management","authors":"Yuxin Feng,&nbsp;Zhuodong Zhang,&nbsp;Bo Chen,&nbsp;Zhuoli Zhou,&nbsp;Zhiqiang Wang,&nbsp;Wenbo Zhang,&nbsp;Xinyu Zou","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109948","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109948","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil total nitrogen (TN) is a critical indicator for assessing soil fertility and quality, and its dynamics are influenced by multiple environmental factors. In temperate grassland ecosystems, spatio-temporal variations of TN are primarily influenced by climate change, topography, land use and other factors. However, previous studies have not adequately addressed TN dynamics and have overlooked wind erosion, a key influencing factor in temperate grasslands. This study employed revisited sampling to compare TN levels between 2014 and 2021. It investigates the spatio-temporal variation of TN at depths of 0–1 cm and 1–6 cm in a typical temperate grassland at the landscape scale, focusing on elucidating the underlying mechanisms and identifying its primary influencing factors. The results indicated that TN content exhibited a significant decreasing trend in the study area, with a 0.043 % reduction at 0–1 cm depth and a 0.012 % reduction at 1–6 cm depth. TN exhibited moderate spatial autocorrelation in both 2014 and 2021, and its spatial variability increased at 1–6 cm depth as the nugget-to-sill ratio increased and the range decreased. Both elevation and slope significantly influenced TN variation. Specifically, higher elevations experienced less TN reduction than lower elevations. TN reduction was more pronounced on leeward slopes than on windward slopes. Higher land-use intensity was associated with greater TN reduction. Areas under long-term ungrazing and markedly reduced land-use intensity showed an decrease in TN reduction. A wind erosion hotspot was identified at a local peak. While moderate erosion intensity led to a 0.048 % decrease in TN, the highly eroded area showed less TN reduction. This can be attributed to the combined effects of low land-use intensity and high vegetation cover in the high-altitude area, which mitigated the impacts of wind erosion on TN variation. This study provides reliable results based on revisited sampling of TN, emphasizing the importance of rational management in maintaining soil N balance in temperate grasslands, and offers scientific guidance for ecological restoration and soil conservation strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109948"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989333","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":"Balancing grazing and biodiversity: Arthropod responses to modern cattle farming practices","authors":"Sanna Mäkeläinen ,&nbsp;Torgny Backman ,&nbsp;Laura Bosco ,&nbsp;Andrea Santangeli ,&nbsp;Aleksi Lehikoinen ,&nbsp;Venla Saaristo ,&nbsp;Johan Ekroos ,&nbsp;Helena Wirta ,&nbsp;Iryna Herzon","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109942","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109942","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ruminant production exerts severe pressure on ecosystems through land use change for pasture and fodder production, contributing to biodiversity loss, disruption of natural biogeochemical fluxes, and climate change. Whereas ruminant production can support biodiversity that has co-evolved with grasslands and grazing animals, the values of temporary grasslands are poorly understood. In this study, we assessed the effects of grazing regimes practised on modern cattle farms, including no grazing, on the abundance, biomass, and taxonomic richness of aerial and ground-dwelling arthropods. We assessed the potential value of organic management compared to grazing on conventional farms, and the role of vegetation structure on the pastures. We sampled arthropods in temporary pastures and silage grasslands, spring cereal fields, and in farmyards on 43 dairy and suckler cow farms in Finland. We show that grazing benefits the richness of ground-dwelling arthropods in fields, and the benefits were most evident at extensive levels of grazing at the farm scale. Grazing had no significant benefits for the biomass of ground-dwelling arthropods or relative abundance of aerial arthropods over field vegetation. Grazed rotational grasslands had similar levels of arthropods as mown grasslands or cereal crops, except for a higher richness of ground-dwelling arthropods. Taxonomic richness of ground-dwelling arthropods was higher on organic farms than conventional, but only at low grazing intensities. Although our study suggests several ways in which livestock farmers can maintain and increase arthropod populations on their farms, these may be associated with some reduction in production output on modern farms oriented towards high yields.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109942"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144996958","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":"Methyl-processing metabolisms play central roles in methane cycling during rice cultivation","authors":"Raegan Paul ,&nbsp;Emily K. Bechtold ,&nbsp;Jared Ellenbogen ,&nbsp;Reed Woyda ,&nbsp;Thomas Holloway ,&nbsp;Neil Carter ,&nbsp;George Heslop-Harrison ,&nbsp;Kelly C. Wrighton ,&nbsp;Michael J. Wilkins","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109952","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109952","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rice cultivation accounts for a significant proportion of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while also generating a staple food for over half of the world’s population. Under continually flooded conditions, a common agronomic practice for rice cultivation, anoxia can stimulate the enrichment of methanogenic archaea, leading to large methane fluxes. However, the development of the microbial carbon decomposition networks that provide substrates to methanogens throughout the growing season is less well understood. Here, we sampled soil and water from eight rice fields at three rice growing stages in Arkansas, USA, to identify temporal changes in methanogen populations, and their interactions with other metabolically intertwined microorganisms. Methanogen abundance and activity increased over the course of the growing season, with noted enrichment of methylotrophic methanogens at later time points. These methanogen populations were supported by an increasingly complex network of microorganisms that catalyze carbon transformations to produce methanogenic substrates. We identified extensive genomic functional potential for the processing of complex carbon to yield methylated substrates/compounds for methylotrophic methanogenesis, indicating that methylated oxygen (methyl-O) and methylated sulfur (methyl-S) compounds may support a significant fraction of methane generation. Finally, we mined existing rice cultivation datasets to reveal the conservation of specific methanogenic taxa across distinct global regions, highlighting the strong selective pressure that rice cultivation has on shaping the soil microbial communities responsible for GHG production and offering opportunities for targeted practices to mitigate GHG emissions from rice paddies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109952"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988012","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":"Grassland phases as ecological buffers: Reducing invasive weeds even under drought-induced stress in cropping systems","authors":"Mauricio Z. Schuster ,&nbsp;Arthur A.M. Barroso ,&nbsp;François Gastal","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109939","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109939","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural systems are increasingly vulnerable to biological invasions and climate extremes, particularly drought, which can disrupt competitive balances and favor invasive weed establishment. Ecological strategies such as integrating temporary grassland phases into crop rotations offer potential to enhance system resilience, yet their long-term effectiveness under drought stress remains poorly quantified. A 12-year field experiment in western France was used to evaluated five rotational systems differing in the duration (3 or 6 years) and nitrogen fertilization of grassland phases within annual crop rotations. Weed invasion patterns were assessed using hierarchical statistical models, and an integrative drought stress index was developed to capture both the intensity and duration of water deficits over time. The influence of grassland management on invasive weed richness, temporal dynamics, drought sensitivity, and weed carryover between phases was examined. Invasive weed richness increased linearly with the proportion of annual crops, while systems with prolonged, well-fertilized grasslands exhibited significantly reduced invasion pressure—even under drought. Grassland phases buffered the effects of climate stress and minimized weed persistence across years, particularly when nitrogen inputs were adequate. Conceptualizing the system as a dynamic source–sink model revealed that crops serve as invasion sources, while well-managed grasslands act as ecological sinks that suppress invaders over time. These findings highlight the value of spatial–temporal diversification as a nature-based solution to reduce weed invasion in a changing climate. Incorporating extended grassland phases into rotations can strengthen agroecosystem resistance to invasive species and reduce dependency on chemical control strategies, contributing to the design of more sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109939"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924978","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 texture governs the decoupling of diversity and productivity recovery in restored desert steppe grasslands","authors":"Xing Wang ,&nbsp;Lei Wang ,&nbsp;Nai-ping Song ,&nbsp;Wen-jie Qu ,&nbsp;Xin-guo Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109947","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109947","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vegetation structure and ecosystem function in the desert steppe of northern China show high spatial heterogeneity during restoration. Understanding how species dominance and soil environmental variation influence the recovery of diversity, productivity, and their interrelationship is critical for sustainable restoration and adaptive management in this region. To address this, we investigated native grasslands (reference systems) and restored grasslands following degradation in the Ningxia desert steppe. We assessed the recovery of diversity (quantified by effective species number), productivity, and their linkage across dominant, common, and rare species groups, and examined the regulatory role of soil properties in these processes. Compared to native grasslands, restored grasslands showed: (1) a significant 12.2 % increase in species richness, mainly driven by rare species; however, the diversity of dominant and common groups decreased significantly by 25.6 and 12.0 %, respectively; (2) a significant reduction in community productivity, with native grassland specialists declining by nearly 80 %, while weed productivity increased by 87.5 %. Across both systems, common ecological mechanisms were observed: (3) productivity was primarily driven by a few dominant and common species with high relative abundance (i.e., lower effective numbers of species), indicating a typical selection effect; (4) Soils with higher clay and silt contents enhanced moisture retention, thereby promoting diversity recovery (greater effective numbers of species) but suppressing productivity. This regulatory pathway was weaker in restored grasslands (R² = 0.126) than in native systems (R² = 0.719). Our findings reveal trade-offs between structural and functional recovery in restored grasslands. Enhancing rare species conservation and increasing the abundance and functional dominance of native species under specific soil conditions may improve restoration outcomes. These insights provide a scientific basis for ecosystem management in dryland grasslands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"395 ","pages":"Article 109947"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924975","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}