Effects of soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities on soil multifunctionality under grazing disturbance

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2025.0117

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The symbiotic relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant roots enhances nutrient acquisition in plant communities and plays a vital role in sustaining key functions and ecological processes in grassland ecosystems. However, the response patterns of AMF communities to varying grazing intensities remain under debate, and the mechanisms by which these communities influence soil multifunctionality (SMF) under grazing disturbance are not yet fully understood.

Methods To address these knowledge gaps, this study investigated mountain meadow steppes on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang under three grazing intensities: ungrazed, lightly grazed, and heavily grazed. High-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the composition of AMF communities and to construct their co-occurrence networks. A weighted average method, based on cluster analysis, was applied to comprehensively evaluate SMF and to analyze how AMF community characteristics vary with grazing intensities and how these variations influence SMF.

Important findings The results indicated that the dominant AMF genera in the three grazing treatments were Glomus and Diversispora. As grazing intensity increased, AMF community diversity, as along with network stability, complexity, cohesion, and SMF, exhibited a unimodal pattern—increasing initially and then declining at higher grazing levels. Linear regression and structural equation modeling indicated that grazing influences SMF mainly by modulating AMF community diversity and altering the complexity and stability of AMF networks. The effect of AMF community diversity on SMF was largely indirect, mediated through its effects on network structure, while its direct impact was relatively weak. Overall, this study highlights that the complexity and stability of AMF co-occurrence networks enhance the role of community diversity in shaping SMF and strengthen the interdependent relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. These findings offer valuable theoretical insights for the restoration and sustainable management of degraded grassland ecosystems.

Key words: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, co-occurrence network analysis, stability, network complexity, soil multifunctionality, grazing, mountain meadow steppes

JIANG Kang-Wei, LÜ Cheng, WANG Ya-Fei, LI Hong, ZHANG Zhi-Qing, WANG Yu, ZHANG Qing-Qing, Tuerxunnayi REYIMU. Effects of soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities on soil multifunctionality under grazing disturbance[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2026, 50(3): 685-699.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2025.0117

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2026/V50/I3/685

Figures/Tables 6

Table 1 Plant community composition in different grazing treatments in the mountain meadow steppes on the northern slope at middle section of the Tianshan Mountains (mean ± SE)

放牧强度 Grazing intensity	植物优势种 Dominant plant species	高度 Height (cm)	盖度 Coverage (%)	地上生物量 Aboveground biomass (g·m^-2)
对照 No grazing	针茅、羊茅、草地早熟禾 Carex stenocarpa, Festuca ovina, Poa pratensis	26.18 ± 3.63	87.50 ± 2.21	265.29 ± 60.24
轻度放牧 Light grazing	细果薹草、针茅、无芒雀麦 Carex stenocarpa, Stipa capillata, Bromus inermis	22.68 ± 1.77	93.50 ± 2.73	175.35 ± 19.29
重度放牧 Heavy grazing	醉马草、细果薹草、平车前 Achnatherum inebrians, Carex stenocarpa, Plantago depressa	13.21 ± 2.49	59.16 ± 3.67	123.31 ± 33.21

Fig. 1 Location of ungrazed, lightly grazed and heavily grazed plots in the mountain meadow steppes on the northern slope at middle section of the Tianshan Mountains. CK, no grazing; HG, heavy grazing; LG, light grazing.

Fig. 2 Changes in operational taxonomic unit (OTU) rarefaction curve (A), coverage index (B) and number (C) (mean ± SE) in different grazing treatments in the mountain meadow steppes on the northern slope at middle section of the Tianshan Mountains. CK, no grazing; HG, heavy grazing; LG, light grazing. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different grazing treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 3 Changes in alpha diversity (A), beta diversity (B), composition (C), and structure (D) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in different grazing treatments. CK, no grazing; HG, heavy grazing; LG, light grazing. Similarity, 1 - Total β; Total β, total β diversity; Turnover β, turnover β diversity (replacement); Nestedness β, nestedness β diversity (richness difference). ADONIS, permutational multivariate analysis of variance; ANOSIM, similarity analysis; NMDS1/NMDS2, non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis axis 1/axis 2; Stress, stress coefficient. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different grazing treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 4 Changes in the co-occurrence network of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in different grazing treatments. A, Co-occurrence network characteristics. B, Key species based on co-occurrence network. Dashed lines indicate that nodes with Zi ≥ 2.5 or Pi ≥ 0.62 are identified as key species. C, Co-occurrence network topological properties. D, Positive cohesion. E, Negative cohesion. F, Co-occurrence network complexity. G, Stability. H, Relationship between network complexity and stability. CK, no grazing; HG, heavy grazing; LG, light grazing. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different grazing treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities drive soil multifunctionality in different grazing treatments. A, Soil multifunctionality. B, Driving factors of soil multifunctionality based on random forest. C, Relationship between soil multifunctionality and the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities. D, Relationship between soil multifunctionality and the complexity and stability of the co-occurrence network of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities. E, Influencing factors based on the multifunctionality of soils in random forests. F, Driving process of soil multifunctionality based on structural equation model. G, Effect value of driving factors on soil multifunctionality based on structural equation model. AB, aboveground biomass; AP, alkaline phosphatase activity; Av-K, available potassium content; Av-N, available nitrogen content; Av-P, available phosphorus content; BB, belowground biomass; BD, soil density; BG, β-1,4-glucosidase activity; CBH, β-α-cellobiohydrolase activity; Coverage, coverage of plant community; Density, plant density; EC, electrical conductivity; Height, height of plant community; LAP, leucine aminopeptidase activity; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; MBP, microbial biomass phosphorus content; NAG, β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase activity; Nestedness β, nested β diversity; pH, soil pH; SOC, soil organic carbon content; SW, soil water content; TK, total potassium content; TN, total nitrogen; Total β, total β diversity; TP, total phosphorus content; Turnover β, turnover β diversity. CK, no grazing; HG, heavy grazing; LG, light grazing. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different grazing treatments (p < 0.05).

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