Responses of plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities to long-term precipitation increase in a semi-arid grassland

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2025.0083

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) constitutes a critical nutrient transfer network in terrestrial ecosystems, playing an essential role in sustaining ecosystem functions. However, AMF community composition and its ecological mechanism underlying their functional responses to global change remains poorly understood.

Methods By integrating a multi-year precipitation increase field experiment in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau with MiSeq sequencing, we measured plant biomass, root traits, and AMF community composition, and explored the effect of precipitation increase on plant resource acquisition strategies.

Important findings Our results showed that precipitation increase altered plant community composition, favoring subshrubs and forbs over grasses. Compared to grass, subshrub and forb often have thicker and shorter roots, which may enhance the colonization potential of AMF. MiSeq sequencing revealed that precipitation increase significantly altered the AMF community composition, increasing the relative abundance of Gigasporaceae and Paraglomeraceae, while reducing the relative abundance of Glomeraceae. Furthermore, precipitation increase enhanced the complexity of AMF community network. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that precipitation increase regulates plant water and nutrient acquisition pathway via altering plant functional group growth, root traits, and AMF community composition. These results indicate that precipitation increase may have profound effects on nutrient cycling in grassland ecosystems via regulating the plant and AMF interaction network.

Key words: precipitation increase, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, resource acquisition, semi-arid grassland

HE Tang-Qing, WANG Bian-Bian, CAO Xin-Xin, ZHANG Kang-Cheng, WANG Xiao-Dong, WANG Hao, BAI Tong-Shuo, ZHAO Ye-Xin, ZHANG Yi, WANG Yi, QIU Yun-Peng, HU Shui-Jin. Responses of plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities to long-term precipitation increase in a semi-arid grassland[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2026, 50(3): 674-684.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2025.0083

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2026/V50/I3/674

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Effects of precipitation increase on grass biomass (A-C) and on subshrub and forb biomass (D-F) in 2021-2023 (mean ± SE). Dots represent replicate samples. * denote significant differences between treatments at p < 0.05 level. Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase.

Table 1 Results of the linear mixed-effects model analysis on the effects of precipitation increase on soil abiotic properties and microbial biomass carbon content (mean ± SE)

年份 Year	处理 Treatment	土壤含水量 Soil moisture (%)	铵态氮含量 NH₄⁺-N content (mg·kg^-1)	硝态氮含量 NO₃^--N content (mg·kg^-1)	可溶性有机碳含量 Dissolved organic carbon content (mg·kg^-1)	速效磷含量 Available phosphorus content (mg·kg^-1)	微生物生物量碳含量 Microbial biomass carbon content (mg·kg^-1)
2021	Con	8.09 ± 0.19	2.80 ± 0.12	14.70 ± 1.49	185.56 ± 12.58	-	628.60 ± 54.70
2021	Pi	9.48 ± 0.34	3.23 ± 0.09	16.06 ± 1.16	187.79 ± 12.33	-	727.32 ± 76.42
2022	Con	12.67 ± 0.14	1.39 ± 0.10	8.87 ± 0.15	133.96 ± 5.40	8.29 ± 0.84	708.17 ± 9.17
2022	Pi	14.01 ± 0.07	1.53 ± 0.02	9.68 ± 0.58	177.05 ± 10.58	9.31 ± 0.08	740.86 ± 56.27
2023	Con	8.11 ± 0.15	1.82 ± 0.16	20.83 ± 4.20	152.42 ± 7.50	-	656.60 ± 51.97
2023	Pi	9.26 ± 0.19	2.25 ± 0.17	21.42 ± 6.62	153.31 ± 11.18	-	601.09 ± 19.27

Fig. 2 Effects of precipitation increase on the relative abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi species (A, B) and on the relative abundance of Gigasporaceae, Paraglomeraceae, and Glomeraceae (C, D) in 2021 and 2022 (mean ± SE). *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01. Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase.

Fig. 3 Effects of precipitation increase on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition in 2021 and 2022. Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase. * denote significant differences between treatments at p < 0.05 level.

Fig. 4 Effect of precipitation increase on co-occurrence network structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities. Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase.

Table 2 Topological properties of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi co-occurrence networks under different treatments

处理 Treatment	平均度 Average degree	网络直径 Network diameter	网络密度 Network density	聚类系数 Clustering coefficient
Con	10.196	6.46	0.101	0.754
Pi	18.358	6.57	0.195	0.824

Fig. 5 Relationships between root traits and the relative abundances of Gigasporaceae (Giga), Paraglomeraceae (Para), and Glomeraceae in 2021. Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase. Solid lines indicate significant correlations (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01), and shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals.

Fig. 6 Relationships between soil moisture and the relative abundances of Gigasporaceae (Giga), Paraglomeraceae (Para), and Glomeraceae in 2021 (A, B) and 2022 (C, D). Con, ambient precipitation; Pi, precipitation increase. Solid lines indicate significant correlations (p < 0.05), and shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals.

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