Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland

Yanan Qu; Xuechen Yang; Minghao Zhang; Junda Chen; Yushu Sui; Xiaochong Zhang; Yizhu Zeng; Muping Huang; Yifan Gao; Raúl Ochoa-Hueso; Baoku Shi; Daiqi Zhao; Tianxue Yang; Wei Sun

doi:10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075

Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland

Yanan Qu, Xuechen Yang, Minghao Zhang, Junda Chen, Yushu Sui, Xiaochong Zhang, Yizhu Zeng, Muping Huang, Yifan Gao, Raúl Ochoa-Hueso, Baoku Shi, Daiqi Zhao, Tianxue Yang^* (Corresponding author), Wei Sun^* (Corresponding author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

NIOO - Terrestrial Ecology (TE)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Extreme climatic events, such as drought, can significantly alter belowground microbial diversity and species interactions, leading to unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here, we simulated a drought gradient by removing 30 %, 50 %, and 70 % of precipitation in a semi-arid grassland over five years. We assessed the effects of drought on bacterial and fungal diversity, as well as on their species interactions. We also evaluated the impact of drought on ecosystem individual functions (e.g., plant biomass and microbial activity), and on multifunctionality (EMF). Finally, we linked the drought-induced changes in microbial communities with the variations in EMF. Drought significantly increased fungal diversity and intensified species interactions, but it decreased bacterial diversity and species interactions. Both plant and microbial biomass significantly decreased with increasing drought severity, while microbial activity showed the opposite trend. Only the −50 % rainfall treatment notably reduced EMF. Bacterial diversity and species interactions positively correlated with most ecosystem functions. However, fungal parameters were negatively associated with these functions. Structural equation modeling indicated that bacterial diversity had a strong direct positive effect on EMF (standardized path coefficient: 0.52), and that bacterial diversity was indirectly suppressed by drought through decreasing soil water content and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). In contrast, fungal species interactions had a significant direct negative effect on EMF with the highest standardized path coefficient (−0.6) and were directly enhanced by fungal diversity. Drought had indirect positive effects on fungal diversity by decreasing soil water content and stimulating fungal PLFAs. Our results highlight the importance of considering soil microbial species interactions when evaluating the ecological impacts of drought. Furthermore, the divergent regulatory pathways of bacterial and fungal communities to EMF suggest that improving ecosystem functionality may be achieved by enhancing bacterial diversity while mitigating fungal species interactions through reducing fungal diversity.

Original language	English
Article number	128075
Journal	Microbiological Research
Volume	293
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075
Publication status	Published - Apr 2025

Keywords

Co-occurrence networks
Ecosystem multifunctionality
Field manipulation experiment
Grasslands
Microbial communities
Precipitation amount

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Qu, Y., Yang, X., Zhang, M., Chen, J., Sui, Y., Zhang, X., Zeng, Y., Huang, M., Gao, Y., Ochoa-Hueso, R., Shi, B., Zhao, D., Yang, T., & Sun, W. (2025). Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland. Microbiological Research, 293, Article 128075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075

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title = "Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland",

abstract = "Extreme climatic events, such as drought, can significantly alter belowground microbial diversity and species interactions, leading to unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here, we simulated a drought gradient by removing 30 %, 50 %, and 70 % of precipitation in a semi-arid grassland over five years. We assessed the effects of drought on bacterial and fungal diversity, as well as on their species interactions. We also evaluated the impact of drought on ecosystem individual functions (e.g., plant biomass and microbial activity), and on multifunctionality (EMF). Finally, we linked the drought-induced changes in microbial communities with the variations in EMF. Drought significantly increased fungal diversity and intensified species interactions, but it decreased bacterial diversity and species interactions. Both plant and microbial biomass significantly decreased with increasing drought severity, while microbial activity showed the opposite trend. Only the −50 % rainfall treatment notably reduced EMF. Bacterial diversity and species interactions positively correlated with most ecosystem functions. However, fungal parameters were negatively associated with these functions. Structural equation modeling indicated that bacterial diversity had a strong direct positive effect on EMF (standardized path coefficient: 0.52), and that bacterial diversity was indirectly suppressed by drought through decreasing soil water content and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). In contrast, fungal species interactions had a significant direct negative effect on EMF with the highest standardized path coefficient (−0.6) and were directly enhanced by fungal diversity. Drought had indirect positive effects on fungal diversity by decreasing soil water content and stimulating fungal PLFAs. Our results highlight the importance of considering soil microbial species interactions when evaluating the ecological impacts of drought. Furthermore, the divergent regulatory pathways of bacterial and fungal communities to EMF suggest that improving ecosystem functionality may be achieved by enhancing bacterial diversity while mitigating fungal species interactions through reducing fungal diversity.",

keywords = "Co-occurrence networks, Ecosystem multifunctionality, Field manipulation experiment, Grasslands, Microbial communities, Precipitation amount",

author = "Yanan Qu and Xuechen Yang and Minghao Zhang and Junda Chen and Yushu Sui and Xiaochong Zhang and Yizhu Zeng and Muping Huang and Yifan Gao and Ra{\'u}l Ochoa-Hueso and Baoku Shi and Daiqi Zhao and Tianxue Yang and Wei Sun",

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year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075",

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T1 - Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland

AU - Qu, Yanan

AU - Yang, Xuechen

AU - Zhang, Minghao

AU - Chen, Junda

AU - Sui, Yushu

AU - Zhang, Xiaochong

AU - Zeng, Yizhu

AU - Huang, Muping

AU - Gao, Yifan

AU - Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl

AU - Shi, Baoku

AU - Zhao, Daiqi

AU - Yang, Tianxue

AU - Sun, Wei

PY - 2025/4

Y1 - 2025/4

N2 - Extreme climatic events, such as drought, can significantly alter belowground microbial diversity and species interactions, leading to unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here, we simulated a drought gradient by removing 30 %, 50 %, and 70 % of precipitation in a semi-arid grassland over five years. We assessed the effects of drought on bacterial and fungal diversity, as well as on their species interactions. We also evaluated the impact of drought on ecosystem individual functions (e.g., plant biomass and microbial activity), and on multifunctionality (EMF). Finally, we linked the drought-induced changes in microbial communities with the variations in EMF. Drought significantly increased fungal diversity and intensified species interactions, but it decreased bacterial diversity and species interactions. Both plant and microbial biomass significantly decreased with increasing drought severity, while microbial activity showed the opposite trend. Only the −50 % rainfall treatment notably reduced EMF. Bacterial diversity and species interactions positively correlated with most ecosystem functions. However, fungal parameters were negatively associated with these functions. Structural equation modeling indicated that bacterial diversity had a strong direct positive effect on EMF (standardized path coefficient: 0.52), and that bacterial diversity was indirectly suppressed by drought through decreasing soil water content and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). In contrast, fungal species interactions had a significant direct negative effect on EMF with the highest standardized path coefficient (−0.6) and were directly enhanced by fungal diversity. Drought had indirect positive effects on fungal diversity by decreasing soil water content and stimulating fungal PLFAs. Our results highlight the importance of considering soil microbial species interactions when evaluating the ecological impacts of drought. Furthermore, the divergent regulatory pathways of bacterial and fungal communities to EMF suggest that improving ecosystem functionality may be achieved by enhancing bacterial diversity while mitigating fungal species interactions through reducing fungal diversity.

AB - Extreme climatic events, such as drought, can significantly alter belowground microbial diversity and species interactions, leading to unknown consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here, we simulated a drought gradient by removing 30 %, 50 %, and 70 % of precipitation in a semi-arid grassland over five years. We assessed the effects of drought on bacterial and fungal diversity, as well as on their species interactions. We also evaluated the impact of drought on ecosystem individual functions (e.g., plant biomass and microbial activity), and on multifunctionality (EMF). Finally, we linked the drought-induced changes in microbial communities with the variations in EMF. Drought significantly increased fungal diversity and intensified species interactions, but it decreased bacterial diversity and species interactions. Both plant and microbial biomass significantly decreased with increasing drought severity, while microbial activity showed the opposite trend. Only the −50 % rainfall treatment notably reduced EMF. Bacterial diversity and species interactions positively correlated with most ecosystem functions. However, fungal parameters were negatively associated with these functions. Structural equation modeling indicated that bacterial diversity had a strong direct positive effect on EMF (standardized path coefficient: 0.52), and that bacterial diversity was indirectly suppressed by drought through decreasing soil water content and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). In contrast, fungal species interactions had a significant direct negative effect on EMF with the highest standardized path coefficient (−0.6) and were directly enhanced by fungal diversity. Drought had indirect positive effects on fungal diversity by decreasing soil water content and stimulating fungal PLFAs. Our results highlight the importance of considering soil microbial species interactions when evaluating the ecological impacts of drought. Furthermore, the divergent regulatory pathways of bacterial and fungal communities to EMF suggest that improving ecosystem functionality may be achieved by enhancing bacterial diversity while mitigating fungal species interactions through reducing fungal diversity.

KW - Co-occurrence networks

KW - Ecosystem multifunctionality

KW - Field manipulation experiment

KW - Grasslands

KW - Microbial communities

KW - Precipitation amount

U2 - 10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075

DO - 10.1016/j.micres.2025.128075

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85215868829

SN - 0944-5013

VL - 293

JO - Microbiological Research

JF - Microbiological Research

M1 - 128075

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