Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment最新文献

{"title":"Long-term effects of coated fertilizers: Enhancing soil properties, optimizing microbial structures, and boosting soil fertility and crop productivity","authors":"Xu Guo,&nbsp;Zaiju He,&nbsp;Hao Ren,&nbsp;Baizhao Ren,&nbsp;Jiwang Zhang,&nbsp;Peng Liu,&nbsp;Bin Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109564","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109564","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The widespread application of efficient fertilizers, particularly coated fertilizers, has been recognized as a dual-benefit approach to increasing major crop yields and addressing the global challenge of nitrogen loss. However, existing studies have mainly concerned themselves with how common urea impacts soil properties and the composition of microbial communities, with a limited understanding of the impact of coated urea on these aspects. We carried out an 11-year field experiment to systematically examine how various types of urea affect soil properties, microbial composition, co-occurrence networks, and crop productivity. Polymer-coated urea (CRF) significantly increased yield by 6.8 %–11.2 % over common urea (CCF) during 2021–2023, with its controlled-release mechanism improving soil environmental conditions. Compared to sulfur-coated urea (SCF) and CCF, CRF treatment significantly increased soil organic carbon content in the 0–20 cm layer by 5.1 % and 6.3 % (2021), and in the 20–40 cm layer by 6.2 % and 7.6 % (2022), respectively. The total nitrogen content in the 20–40 cm layer increased significantly by 13.1 % and 25.0 % (2021), and by 17.5 % and 8.0 % (2022), respectively. Compared to other N treatments, the CRF treatment exhibited higher soil pH in two years. CRF treatment significantly enhanced soil aggregate water stable aggregates (WSA)，mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) (6.3 %–30.8 %) and reduced soil bulk density (2.1 %–9.1 %) in 2021. Differences in network topological features indicated that long-term use of CRF resulted in a sparser and more dispersed symbiotic network, thereby reducing its complexity. The Z-score of module #2 was significantly higher in CRF compared to SCF and CCF, which was associated with an increased relative abundance of plant growth-promoting microbes and populations involved in carbon and nitrogen cycling. Mantel tests and partial least squares path modeling models demonstrated that abundance of network ecological clusters was significantly correlated with soil physicochemical factors and had a significant impact on yield. Overall, CRF significantly enhanced soil fertility, promoted soil sustainability, and increased crop yields by improving soil properties and optimizing microbial communities. These findings enhance our comprehension of how coated fertilizers influence the soil environment and crop growth, offering a robust scientific foundation for optimizing agricultural management strategies and advancing agricultural sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109564"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143473922","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":"Keystone ecological cluster rather than the whole community of phoD-encoding bacteria driving ecological function and the improvement of yield under long-term organic regime in greenhouse","authors":"Xiaoxia Li ,&nbsp;Pengjie Li ,&nbsp;Muhammad Awais ,&nbsp;Zhu Zhang ,&nbsp;Shuning Zhao ,&nbsp;Yufeng Liu ,&nbsp;Zhouping Sun ,&nbsp;Hongdan Fu ,&nbsp;Tianlai Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109568","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109568","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacteria play a crucial role in mediating agricultural soil organic phosphorus mineralization and altering the bioavailability of phosphorus. Clarifying the effect of the <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacterial ecological functional characteristic and their contribution to soil multifunctionality response to different fertilization is essential for improving sustainable agricultural productivity in the intensive greenhouse. Therefore, we investigated the response of the <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacterial community to soil organic phosphorus pools and physiochemical features under eight long-term fertilization treatments, spanning both organic and inorganic regimes, and their subsequent impact on tomato yield. The results revealed total organic phosphorus (TPo) content tended to accumulate in moderately labile Po (MLPo) and fulvic acid-associated Po (FAPo) pools under organic regime compared to inorganic regime. Notably, nitrogen-phosphorus chemical fertilizers plus organic manure (MNP) significantly reduced the content of available P (AP), labile Po (LPo), and total inorganic P (TPi) pools compared to the phosphorus chemical fertilizer plus organic manure (MP) treatment, while enhancing the long-term supply of organic phosphorus availability by promoting its accumulation in the MLPo pool. Alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP) activity, which was significantly reduced by nitrogen fertilizer under inorganic regime, was significantly recovered and enhanced in organic regime. The <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacterial community was strongly influenced by organic regime, followed by phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers, with soil organic matter (SOM) being a key determinant. Long-term fertilizers and regimes led to the formation of five keystone ecological clusters within the <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacterial community. SEM revealed that the increased cumulative relative abundance (CPM) of module #1 under organic manure physiologically regulated ALP activity. Additionally, the increased multibiodiversity of module #1 enhanced soil multifunctionality indirectly contributing to higher tomato yields. Collectively, long-term organic regime facilitated the formation of a keystone ecological cluster of <em>phoD</em>-encoding bacteria, which effectively mitigated the inhibitory effect of nitrogen fertilizer on ALP activity, thereby enhancing soil multifunctionality in increasing yield.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109568"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143473924","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":"“Biocontrol of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) in organic crops: Spatial and seasonal dynamics”","authors":"Jessa H. Thurman ,&nbsp;Michael J. Furlong","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109567","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109567","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biocontrol presents a sustainable alternative to insecticides by using natural enemies to reduce pest populations. However, the occurrence of biocontrol agents and the services that they provide, varies across space and time. Factors that influence service provision for a key economic pest, the diamondback moth (<em>Plutella xylostella</em>) were investigated in field studies on commercial organic farms in southeast Queensland, Australia. Cohorts of the pest were placed on cabbage plants within cages that were either open or closed to natural enemies and then placed at varying distances from adjacent non-crop habitat to determine spatial variation in pest mortality. Seasonal variability was captured in repeated trials over three years. <em>Plutella xylostella</em> mortality was significantly higher in cages open to natural enemies. Marginal death rates due to parasitism from <em>Diadegma semiclausum</em>, which was the only parasitoid reared from larvae, were significantly higher than any other mortality factor. Beta regression models found parasitism and predation were predicted by seasonal, but not spatial treatments. Mortality due to parasitism was highest in cooler seasons, while predation was variable, but significantly lower in cooler seasons. This suggests that <em>P. xylostella</em> populations are primarily regulated by <em>D. semiclausum</em> on organic farms in southeast Queensland, but pest suppression is reduced when warmer temperatures occur, risking pest outbreaks. This study provides rare direct quantification of the contribution of arthropod natural enemies to pest population suppression on farms. The deployment of additional biocontrol agents may increase this ecosystem service and its stability across seasons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109567"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143464620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does Intercropping improve soil aggregation and organic carbon protection? A case-study in the Semi-Arid Mediterranean","authors":"Marie Reichmann ,&nbsp;Louise Blanc ,&nbsp;Jorge Lampurlanés ,&nbsp;Genís Simon-Miquel ,&nbsp;Daniel Plaza-Bonilla","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109563","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109563","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intercropping has been claimed to improve the soil structure and soil quality, however its effects on soil fertility parameters in semi-arid Mediterranean agroecosystems remain unclear. The objective of this study was to assess whether intercropping and its combination with N fertilisation are adequate practices to improve the soil aggregate stability and organic matter quality. An irrigated on-farm experiment was established in northeastern Spain to evaluate the effect of seven cropping systems (faba bean-durum wheat, pea-durum wheat, and rapeseed-pea intercropping and the respective sole crops) and two N-fertiliser rates (0 vs. 75 kg N ha⁻¹). Several soil variables were analysed in bulk soil: water-stable macro- and microaggregates, soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (STN), reduced permanganate (Per_red), particulate organic matter (POM) and carbon (POC), mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) and carbon (MAOC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN). Also, SOC, Per_red and nitrogen (N) storage within aggregates were determined. Intercropping did not increase the share of water-stable aggregates nor SOC levels, but SOC concentration was higher in macro- (2.34 g C 100 g⁻¹) than in microaggregates (1.89 g 100 g⁻¹). Intercropping did also not affect STN, but the mineral N-fertilised treatment increased both SOC (2.24 vs. 2.08 g 100 g⁻¹) and STN (0.193 vs 0.177 g 100 g⁻¹) significantly in bulk soil. This study showed that after a few years upon establishment, intercropping had not enhanced the soil aggregate stability significantly and as a sole practice intercropping does not improve soil C and N concentrations nor their active fractions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109563"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143454654","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":"Agricultural diversification across spatial levels – A contribution to resilience and sustainability?","authors":"Marie Arndt ,&nbsp;Katharina Helming","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109547","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109547","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Decades of efficiency-oriented agricultural intensification have raised sustainability and resilience concerns. Diversification aims to address these issues but varies across time, space and system levels, which hinders an assessment of success of diversification and makes transfer to other regions difficult. We classified diversification measures from field to landscape through a systematic review of 142 papers on intensive agricultural systems in temperate climates. Most measures were at field and farm levels, with fewer at landscape level. Since biodiversity requires provision and maintenance at the landscape level rather than just at the field or farm level, the limited emphasis on landscape-level diversification measures highlights a significant knowledge gap. We further analyzed the impact of diversification on sustainability (integration of environmental, economic, social targets) and resilience capacities (robustness, adaptation, transformation). We show that specific diversification levels were linked to specific sustainability targets and resilience capacities. Environmental aspects are mainly addressed at the field level, economic aspects at the farm level, and social aspects, which are less frequently addressed, are also primarily tackled at the farm level. Resilience is often equated with robustness towards economic (farm) stability. Adaptation relates to climate change and economic instability, while transformation, though rarely addressed directly, emphasizes societal change. Our findings suggest that the concepts of resilience and sustainability are interconnected: resilience can be understood as a property of a system, while sustainability is the overarching target. In literature, transformation relates to societal changes for better integrating social, economic and environmental targets. In contrast, robustness and adaptation address environmental or economic aspects with less linkage to integration of sustainability as a whole. While agricultural diversification is often associated with improved resilience and sustainability, most studies on diversification remain vague about the causal linkage to those concepts. Literature on diversification often focuses only on individual aspects of sustainability or resilience, which undermines both concepts, as it is the holistic consideration of all aspects together that makes a system sustainable or resilient. Our research highlights that diversification at all spatial levels is necessary to achieve resilient and sustainable systems, as each level of diversification addresses distinct sustainability goals or resilience capacities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109547"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143454653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green infrastructure impacts in winegrowing: A systematic map","authors":"Ebba Engström ,&nbsp;Robert Fish ,&nbsp;Caroline Howe ,&nbsp;Catherine Matilda Collins ,&nbsp;Benjamin J. Roberts ,&nbsp;Samuel Watkins ,&nbsp;Alexandra Collins","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109546","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109546","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Viticulture for wine grapes (<em>winegrowing</em>) is an agricultural practice which when intensively conducted has negative impacts for the environment. Over the years there has therefore been a development toward more sustainable practices in winegrowing. The integration of <em>green infrastructure,</em> encompassing non-vine vegetation, water elements, and other human-made structures (e.g. nest boxes) offer potential solutions to these challenges, together with additional benefits for the production systems. We conducted a systematic map to understand the scientific evidence regarding impacts from green infrastructure interventions in winegrowing. In total, 380 publications were included based on relevant criteria, with 369 studies regarding vegetation elements. Many of the studies focused specifically on floor cover vegetation interventions, and biodiversity-related impacts have been given extensive focus in relation to all forms of green infrastructure. The study identifies opportunities to further explore impacts related to green infrastructures which are not floor cover vegetation interventions, and human-oriented impacts in relation to various green infrastructures. This includes operational, social, and cultural aspects. It would also be valuable to assess multiple impacts across the environmental, economic, and sociocultural dimensions within the same studies. Additionally, further studies could be undertaken in geographic regions which have up until now received limited coverage, including areas with younger wine production industries. In conducting our study, we recognise limitations related to the interpretation and boundary setting for the concept of green infrastructure. We also encourage further evidence collection on the topic by using additional databases, conducting searches in languages other than English, and applying alternative inclusion criteria.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109546"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143464621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated anaerobic soil disinfestation and bio-organic fertilizers to alleviate continuous cropping obstacles: Improving soil health and changing bacterial communities","authors":"Taowen Pan ,&nbsp;Yulin Chen ,&nbsp;Lei Wang ,&nbsp;Abdul Hafeez ,&nbsp;Joji Muramoto ,&nbsp;Carol Shennan ,&nbsp;Yixia Cai ,&nbsp;Jihui Tian ,&nbsp;Kunzheng Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109562","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109562","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bacterial wilt, a soil-borne disease exacerbated by continuous cropping obstacles, poses a significant threat to tomato cultivation. Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) and bio-organic fertilizers are widely employed in agricultural production due to their roles in disease suppression and soil health improvement. However, the comprehensive role and mechanism of these management strategies in remediating soil obstacle and controlling soilborne disease remain poorly understood. In this study, we simulated disturbance to the indigenous microbial community through ASD treatment, followed by the application of <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> and <em>Trichoderma harzianum</em> bio-organic fertilizers (BS and TH treatments) to restore soil microorganisms and improve soil health in a field experiment. The results showed that the combination of ASD and bio-organic fertilizers was more effective in reducing the abundance of <em>Ralstonia solanacearum</em> (<em>R. solanacearum</em>) in rhizosphere soil, lowering the incidence of tomato bacterial wilt, and increasing tomato yield compared to single ASD or bio-organic fertilizer treatments. The treatments of ASD+TH and ASD+BS significantly increased soil health index (SHI) by 31.9 % and 30.4 %, respectively. In addition, ASD+BS and ASD+TH treatments increased the abundance of <em>B. subtilis</em> and <em>T. harzianum</em> in rhizosphere soil, respectively, increased the the diversity and richness of bacterial communities, and reduced the negative correlation of bacterial communities in the co-occurrence network. Variation partitioning analysis and principal coordinate analysis revealed that ASD treatment was the primary driver of changes in bacterial community composition and structure. Microbial function prediction analysis showed that ASD combined with bio-organic fertilizers increased the relative abundance of carbohydrate metabolic pathways in the bacterial community, but decreased the relative abundance of plant pathogen function. Overall, the effective control of tomato bacterial wilt through combined ASD and bio-organic fertilizers may be attributed to the direct reduction of <em>R. solanacearum</em>, or to the improvement of soil health and the optimization of soil bacterial community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109562"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143464608","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 type and variation in landscape heterogeneity cause species turnover rather than loss in agricultural landscapes","authors":"Franziska Deppe ,&nbsp;Anna Dietze,&nbsp;Annika Hürter,&nbsp;Matilda Kaffenberger,&nbsp;Klaus Fischer","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109560","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109560","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biodiversity in agroecosystems is known to be reduced by agricultural intensification and the concomitant decline in landscape heterogeneity. In order to assess the impact of heterogeneity on biodiversity, we conducted a study in which we compared spider assemblages in three pairs of landscapes, each including a highly intensified, fragmented ‘modern’ landscape and a less intensified, heterogeneous ‘traditional’ landscape. Throughout, spiders were sampled in (fragments of) wet meadows by pitfall trapping. We examined the impact of landscape composition and configuration at different spatial scales on the taxonomic diversity and functional composition of spider assemblages in our target patches. Overall, we did not observe differences in species richness or total abundance of spiders between modern and traditional agricultural landscapes. However, functional composition and community structure differed strongly between landscape types, and were also affected by compositional and configurational heterogeneity. In particular, the size and configuration of crop fields was an important factor in shaping spider assemblages. This suggests that modern agricultural landscapes may result in species turnover due to species-specific responses rather than declines in species richness. Therefore, species numbers alone may not be a good indicator of intensification. In order to preserve spider diversity in agricultural landscapes it is necessary to consider the effects of compositional and configurational heterogeneity on taxonomic diversity as well as functional traits and community structure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109560"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relationship between seed predation and activity-density of carabid beetles in farmland: A meta-regression","authors":"Alice Charalabidis ,&nbsp;Wopke van der Werf ,&nbsp;Britta Frei ,&nbsp;David Makowski ,&nbsp;Pavel Saska ,&nbsp;David A. Bohan","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109551","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109551","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carabid beetles are able to regulate weeds through seed predation. Our understanding of the role of carabids in arable crop systems is obscured by high variation across studies in weed seed removal and carabid abundance. Here we conduct an overarching synthesis of the relationship between seed removal and carabid activity-density. Using a database comprising 4919 data records from 25 published studies, we identify the average relationship between seed removal and carabid activity-density. With a mean carabid activity density of 3.11 beetles trap⁻¹ day⁻¹ and a mean seed exposure duration of 5.95 days, the probability of seed removal on sentinel seed devices was 35 %. We found that higher abundances are required to achieve more substantive seed removal rates, e.g., 17.04 beetles trap⁻¹ day⁻¹ for a removal probability of 80 % after one week of exposure. Such densities are rarely observed in the field, suggesting that carabid populations need to be promoted e.g., by more sustainable farming practices in order to provide higher weed seed predation rates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"384 ","pages":"Article 109551"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143445568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contrasting contributions of microbial and plant-derived C to soil carbon in desertified grassland restoration","authors":"Yuqiang Li ,&nbsp;Xiaoming Mou ,&nbsp;Yuqing Zhang ,&nbsp;Yun Chen ,&nbsp;Xuyang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109579","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109579","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Grassland restoration can greatly increase soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the SOC dynamics and its compositional changes during grassland restoration are not fully understood. We investigated the relative contributions of microbial- and plant-derived C to SOC in both topsoil (0–10 cm) and subsoil (10–20 cm) over a 27-year restoration chronosequence in desertified grasslands, using resampling at the same site. We used amino sugars as biomarkers for microbial-derived C, and light fraction organic carbon (LFOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) as indicators for plant-derived C. Grassland restoration increased SOC from 3.8 to 8.1 g kg⁻¹ in topsoil and from 2.1 to 4.1 g kg⁻¹ in subsoil. Concurrently, microbial necromass carbon (MNC), LFOC, and POC also increased in both soil layers. The proportion of SOC derived from MNC decreased as restoration progressed, while the contribution of LFOC increased, likely due to the continuous input of root biomass and litter after grazing exclusion. These findings support the emerging view that plant-derived C plays a key role in SOC accumulation during the later stages of grassland restoration. Thus, SOC appears less stable and more susceptible to disturbances as restoration progressed, indicating potential risks for C loss. Fungal necromass C was 2.4–2.9 times bacterial necromass C and contributed more to SOC. Random Forest models and correlation analyses revealed that Fe and Al oxides, LFOC, and the SOC/total phosphorus (TP) ratio were key regulators of microbial-derived C in topsoil. Plant-derived contribution to SOC depended primarily on total nitrogen, restoration duration, and TP. We conclude that both microbial- and plant-derived C increased during grassland restoration, but their relative contributions to SOC followed contrasting patterns. These varying C sources during restoration have important implications for SOC stability and vulnerability, and can guide future management strategies for optimizing C sequestration in dryland ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 109579"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143454652","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}