Direct evidence of how plants regulate soil biodiversity–ecosystem stability relationships remains scarce, as the coupling between aboveground and belowground components makes it methodologically challenging to isolate plant‐mediated effects from the independent role of soil biota. Using a long‐term multifactorial semiarid grassland experiment with plant removal nested within grazing, nitrogen addition and water addition, we directly tested whether weakening plant‐derived green inputs reconfigures the soil biodiversity–ecosystem stability relationship through altered green‐brown food web coupling. By contrasting plant‐present and plant‐removal plots, we found that plants fundamentally reconfigured the biodiversity‐stability relationship. In the coupled state, plant presence shifted ecosystem stability towards biotic regulation: multifunctionality was supported by soil biota richness, while functional stability depended on biotic insurance via soil biota asynchrony and compositional stability. After plant removal, multifunctionality weakened and control shifted towards abiotic factors (soil pH/moisture); the observed increase in calculated stability reflected reduced temporal variability at a lower functional level rather than enhanced ecological resilience. Water availability was the strongest moderator of these plant‐mediated effects, whereas grazing primarily reduced the magnitude of multifunctionality and soil biota richness, and nitrogen addition had comparatively weak effects. Synthesis . Collectively, these findings provide direct experimental evidence that plants act as central hubs that reconfigure the biodiversity‐stability relationship by mediating green‐brown food web coupling, and emphasise that maintaining plant integrity is critical for sustaining high multifunctionality and biologically buffered stability under global change.
{"title":"Plants regulate the soil biodiversity–ecosystem stability relationship by mediating green‐brown food web coupling: Evidence from a removal experiment","authors":"Bing Wang, Huasong Chen, Liji Wu, Ying Wu, Yongfei Bai, Dima Chen","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70467","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70467","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Direct evidence of how plants regulate soil biodiversity–ecosystem stability relationships remains scarce, as the coupling between aboveground and belowground components makes it methodologically challenging to isolate plant‐mediated effects from the independent role of soil biota. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Using a long‐term multifactorial semiarid grassland experiment with plant removal nested within grazing, nitrogen addition and water addition, we directly tested whether weakening plant‐derived green inputs reconfigures the soil biodiversity–ecosystem stability relationship through altered green‐brown food web coupling. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> By contrasting plant‐present and plant‐removal plots, we found that plants fundamentally reconfigured the biodiversity‐stability relationship. In the coupled state, plant presence shifted ecosystem stability towards biotic regulation: multifunctionality was supported by soil biota richness, while functional stability depended on biotic insurance via soil biota asynchrony and compositional stability. After plant removal, multifunctionality weakened and control shifted towards abiotic factors (soil pH/moisture); the observed increase in calculated stability reflected reduced temporal variability at a lower functional level rather than enhanced ecological resilience. Water availability was the strongest moderator of these plant‐mediated effects, whereas grazing primarily reduced the magnitude of multifunctionality and soil biota richness, and nitrogen addition had comparatively weak effects. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> . Collectively, these findings provide direct experimental evidence that plants act as central hubs that reconfigure the biodiversity‐stability relationship by mediating green‐brown food web coupling, and emphasise that maintaining plant integrity is critical for sustaining high multifunctionality and biologically buffered stability under global change. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149221425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystems worldwide are undergoing a pervasive transition toward exotic‐dominated states, a shift that threatens biodiversity and disrupts key ecosystem functions. Although positive abiotic feedbacks are frequently cited as drivers of these transitions, the microbial mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. In a two‐phase greenhouse experiment, we conditioned soils along a gradient of increasing exotic plant dominance using 10 exotic and 10 native species. We then assessed plant performance on these soil microbial inocula under no, intraspecific and interspecific competition. We found that increasing exotic dominance progressively reshaped soil microbial communities in ways that favoured exotic over native growth, without altering competitive strengths. This growth asymmetry was tightly linked to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), whose richness increased with exotic dominance and was positively correlated with exotic performance. Complementary field surveys of the same exotic species confirmed a positive correlation between their abundance and AMF richness in natural communities. Synthesis . Our findings demonstrate that increasing dominance of exotic plants can generate microbial legacies that progressively favour exotic plants over native plants. These microbial legacies provide a mechanism linking changes in plant community structure to subsequent competitive interactions and offer a framework for understanding how biotic interactions, particularly those involving soil mutualists, can contribute to the persistence and spread of invasive plants.
{"title":"Increasing exotic dominance generates soil microbial legacies that favour exotic over native plants","authors":"Zhibin Tao, Wenchao Qin, Xiangyang Xu, Minyan He, Evan Siemann, Wei Huang","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70460","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Ecosystems worldwide are undergoing a pervasive transition toward exotic‐dominated states, a shift that threatens biodiversity and disrupts key ecosystem functions. Although positive abiotic feedbacks are frequently cited as drivers of these transitions, the microbial mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> In a two‐phase greenhouse experiment, we conditioned soils along a gradient of increasing exotic plant dominance using 10 exotic and 10 native species. We then assessed plant performance on these soil microbial inocula under no, intraspecific and interspecific competition. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> We found that increasing exotic dominance progressively reshaped soil microbial communities in ways that favoured exotic over native growth, without altering competitive strengths. This growth asymmetry was tightly linked to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), whose richness increased with exotic dominance and was positively correlated with exotic performance. Complementary field surveys of the same exotic species confirmed a positive correlation between their abundance and AMF richness in natural communities. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> . Our findings demonstrate that increasing dominance of exotic plants can generate microbial legacies that progressively favour exotic plants over native plants. These microbial legacies provide a mechanism linking changes in plant community structure to subsequent competitive interactions and offer a framework for understanding how biotic interactions, particularly those involving soil mutualists, can contribute to the persistence and spread of invasive plants. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149221424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jane A. Catford, Harry E. R. Shepherd, Joshua I. Brian
Context dependence can impede accurate prediction in ecology, including plant colonisation. Although it is well established that ecology is complicated, most studies in ecology focus on one or two factors at a time and most experiments run for less than 3 years. As such, most studies only provide a partial picture, and sometimes those pictures can appear contradictory, leading researchers and practitioners to question what factors are important and when. Using a 12‐year multifactorial grassland seed addition experiment, we tested whether we could accurately predict drivers of sown colonist abundance based on the species, sites and conditions in question. Up to 15 grassland species, divided into resource‐acquisitive (‘fast’) or resource‐conservative (‘slow’) life history groups, were added at two different seed rates, with and without the other colonist group, into grassland plots in Minnesota, USA. The plots represented early, mid and late successional communities, and half of the plots were regularly disturbed. We surveyed sown ‘colonist’ cover six times over 12 years. None of the five factors examined (colonist life history group, colonist group composition, seed rate, community successional age, disturbance—plus time) had a consistent relationship with colonist abundance, but general trends did emerge. Resource‐acquisitive colonists with fast life histories were most successful soon after seed addition while resource‐conservative slow colonists reached peak abundances in later years. Colonist cover was higher in early successional than late successional communities, reflecting soil N limitation in late succession. Physical disturbance facilitated colonisation when soil N was limiting, especially for resource‐acquisitive colonists, but disturbance otherwise impeded colonisation as it exacerbated effects of low soil moisture and reduced microhabitat suitability. When sown together into communities not already limited by resource competition, there was some evidence that fast colonists impeded slow colonists through niche pre‐emption. Synthesis : Context dependence can sometimes seem overwhelming in ecology, but—in this study—trends were largely predictable when we considered how causal drivers and limiting factors likely vary across different ecological conditions. Our study highlights the value of long‐term multifactorial experiments and suggests that the interplay of limiting factors can help predict mechanistic context dependence in plant colonisation.
{"title":"Predictably context dependent: A 12‐year grassland experiment into plant colonisation","authors":"Jane A. Catford, Harry E. R. Shepherd, Joshua I. Brian","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70462","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70462","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Context dependence can impede accurate prediction in ecology, including plant colonisation. Although it is well established that ecology is complicated, most studies in ecology focus on one or two factors at a time and most experiments run for less than 3 years. As such, most studies only provide a partial picture, and sometimes those pictures can appear contradictory, leading researchers and practitioners to question what factors are important and when. Using a 12‐year multifactorial grassland seed addition experiment, we tested whether we could accurately predict drivers of sown colonist abundance based on the species, sites and conditions in question. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Up to 15 grassland species, divided into resource‐acquisitive (‘fast’) or resource‐conservative (‘slow’) life history groups, were added at two different seed rates, with and without the other colonist group, into grassland plots in Minnesota, USA. The plots represented early, mid and late successional communities, and half of the plots were regularly disturbed. We surveyed sown ‘colonist’ cover six times over 12 years. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> None of the five factors examined (colonist life history group, colonist group composition, seed rate, community successional age, disturbance—plus time) had a consistent relationship with colonist abundance, but general trends did emerge. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Resource‐acquisitive colonists with fast life histories were most successful soon after seed addition while resource‐conservative slow colonists reached peak abundances in later years. Colonist cover was higher in early successional than late successional communities, reflecting soil N limitation in late succession. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Physical disturbance facilitated colonisation when soil N was limiting, especially for resource‐acquisitive colonists, but disturbance otherwise impeded colonisation as it exacerbated effects of low soil moisture and reduced microhabitat suitability. When sown together into communities not already limited by resource competition, there was some evidence that fast colonists impeded slow colonists through niche pre‐emption. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> : Context dependence can sometimes seem overwhelming in ecology, but—in this study—trends were largely predictable when we considered how causal drivers and limiting factors likely vary across different ecological conditions. Our study highlights the value of long‐term multifactorial experiments and suggests that the interplay of limiting factors can help predict mechanistic context dependence in plant colonisation. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"285 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149221426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Harry E. R. Shepherd, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Marc G. Dumont, Dina in ‘t Zandt, Jane A. Catford
Colonisation by previously absent plants is increasing under global environmental change. Colonist establishment can alter plant community composition and could subsequently affect soil microbial communities. Using a 9‐year seed addition experiment, we ask: (i) how do colonists influence plant community composition; and (ii) do these vegetation changes drive shifts in soil prokaryote and fungal communities? We introduced 23 colonist species, divided into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ resource acquisition strategies, into two grassland sites that differed in successional age and community composition. We manipulated local disturbance and colonist seed additions and examined how site and colonist characteristics influenced microbial community composition. Plant and microbial communities were surveyed 9 years after initial seed addition. Colonist cover was higher in the early succession site. Across both sites, evidence indicated that higher colonist cover led to communities with faster growth strategies, altered belowground resource acquisition strategies, and—at the early succession site—lowered taxonomic diversity. Through these changes in plant community composition, higher colonist cover was associated with less diverse prokaryote communities characterised by elevated metabolic activity and cellular replication, and a higher abundance of fungal saprotrophs. Additional associations between colonists and microbial composition depended on site characteristics and colonist characteristics. Colonist cover was only weakly linked to other microbial functional groups at the early succession site, with no observed links to obligate fungi, despite colonist abundance being highest there. At the late succession site, higher cover of fast‐growing colonists was associated with prokaryote communities exhibiting lower metabolic activity and greater obligate fungal abundance. Also at the late succession site, plots with more colonist seed additions supported higher prokaryote diversity and greater abundance of fungal obligates than unsown plots, regardless of current plant composition. Synthesis : Our findings indicate that elevated plant colonisation drives shifts towards faster‐growing, decomposition‐oriented microbial communities. However, associations between plant colonists and microbial communities were stronger at the late succession site, even though colonist cover was higher in the early succession site. Practitioners should therefore consider belowground impacts of plant colonisation across all grasslands, and not only where effects on plant community composition are most visible.
{"title":"Elevated plant colonisation shifts soil microbes towards faster‐growing decomposition‐oriented communities","authors":"Harry E. R. Shepherd, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Marc G. Dumont, Dina in ‘t Zandt, Jane A. Catford","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70461","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Colonisation by previously absent plants is increasing under global environmental change. Colonist establishment can alter plant community composition and could subsequently affect soil microbial communities. Using a 9‐year seed addition experiment, we ask: (i) how do colonists influence plant community composition; and (ii) do these vegetation changes drive shifts in soil prokaryote and fungal communities? </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> We introduced 23 colonist species, divided into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ resource acquisition strategies, into two grassland sites that differed in successional age and community composition. We manipulated local disturbance and colonist seed additions and examined how site and colonist characteristics influenced microbial community composition. Plant and microbial communities were surveyed 9 years after initial seed addition. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Colonist cover was higher in the early succession site. Across both sites, evidence indicated that higher colonist cover led to communities with faster growth strategies, altered belowground resource acquisition strategies, and—at the early succession site—lowered taxonomic diversity. Through these changes in plant community composition, higher colonist cover was associated with less diverse prokaryote communities characterised by elevated metabolic activity and cellular replication, and a higher abundance of fungal saprotrophs. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Additional associations between colonists and microbial composition depended on site characteristics and colonist characteristics. Colonist cover was only weakly linked to other microbial functional groups at the early succession site, with no observed links to obligate fungi, despite colonist abundance being highest there. At the late succession site, higher cover of fast‐growing colonists was associated with prokaryote communities exhibiting lower metabolic activity and greater obligate fungal abundance. Also at the late succession site, plots with more colonist seed additions supported higher prokaryote diversity and greater abundance of fungal obligates than unsown plots, regardless of current plant composition. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> : Our findings indicate that elevated plant colonisation drives shifts towards faster‐growing, decomposition‐oriented microbial communities. However, associations between plant colonists and microbial communities were stronger at the late succession site, even though colonist cover was higher in the early succession site. Practitioners should therefore consider belowground impacts of plant colonisation across all grasslands, and not only where effects on plant community composition are most visible. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149221427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local conspecific density affects the relationship between species abundance and plant–soil feedback in a subtropical forest","authors":"Dong Dai, Jiarong Yang, Ganxin Feng, Minxia Liang, Yu Liu","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70463","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1365-2745.70463","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 \u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"114 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149172564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Li Ma, Xinna Zhang, Huaijiang He, Juan Wang, Xiuhai Zhao, Klaus von Gadow, Chunyu Zhang
树种生长与死亡之间的种间权衡是植物生活史策略的一个关键维度。大气氮沉降和气候变化正在改变森林种群动态，但它们对树苗生长-死亡权衡的相互作用仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们对中国东北12种温带树种的39,366棵树苗进行了为期5年的施氮试验。我们测试了氮添加和气候如何共同改变人口比率及其权衡。我们实施了一个因子N添加实验（0、50和100 kg N ha−1年−1年），并评估了气候变化、功能性状、土壤性质、地形和邻里竞争对树苗性能的影响。低N添加量分别使相对生长率提高了12.5%（样地群落水平）、6.7%（物种水平）和13.3%（个体水平），但死亡率没有增加，而高N添加量使死亡率提高了23.7%，但没有显著提高生长，这表明物种在生长-死亡权衡空间中的位置发生了变化。值得注意的是，我们发现了N添加与气候之间的非加性相互作用：降水增加抑制了N诱导的生长增益，但增加了死亡率，而变暖进一步限制了N添加下的生长响应。在所有氮处理下均观察到种间生长-死亡权衡，但其强度因氮添加水平而异，在低氮添加时减弱，在高氮添加时部分重新增强。功能性状是生长-死亡权衡的主要近似驱动因素，介导了氮添加和气候对这种人口关系的部分间接影响。合成。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，氮富集通过改变性状介导的资源分配和对气候胁迫的生理敏感性来重塑树苗的生活史策略，从而重新配置全球变化下的生长-死亡权衡。
{"title":"Functional traits modulate nitrogen addition and climate impacts on growth–mortality trade-offs in a temperate forest experiment","authors":"Li Ma, Xinna Zhang, Huaijiang He, Juan Wang, Xiuhai Zhao, Klaus von Gadow, Chunyu Zhang","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70459","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1365-2745.70459","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 \u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"114 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149090192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why finer spatial resolutions do not necessarily improve species distribution models","authors":"Kryštof Chytrý, Jonathan Lenoir, Dietmar Moser, Karl Hülber, Norbert Helm, Johannes Hausharter, Johannes Wessely, Stefan Dullinger","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70451","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1365-2745.70451","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 \u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"114 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2745.70451","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149090204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Context-dependent unimodal relationships between ectomycorrhizal dominance and tree species diversity in forest ecosystems","authors":"Suhui Ma, Qiong Cai, Wenjing Fang, Li Huang, Zhiyan Peng, Zeyuan Li, Zujun Zhao, Qin Li, Zhiming Zhang","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70450","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1365-2745.70450","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 \u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"114 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149090193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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