TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecosystem-level decoupling in response to reduced precipitation frequency and degradation in steppe grassland
AU - Yang, Tianxue
AU - Zhong, Xiaoyue
AU - Chen, Junda
AU - Nielsen, Uffe N.
AU - Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl
AU - Qu, Yanan
AU - Sui, Yushu
AU - Gao, Weifeng
AU - Sun, Wei
N1 - Data archiving: not NIOO data
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Grasslands across arid and semi-arid regions are predicted to experience reductions in precipitation frequency. Besides, grassland degradation has become a serious problem in many of these areas. Despite increasing evidence suggesting compound effects of these synchronous alterations on biotic and abiotic ecosystem constituents, we still do not know how they will impact the coupling among ecosystem constituents and its consequences on ecosystem functioning. Here, we assessed the effects of decreased precipitation frequency and grassland degradation on ecosystem coupling, quantified based on the mean strength of pairwise correlations among multispecies communities and their physicochemical environment, individual functions and ecosystem multifunctionality, and reported their relationships within a mechanistic plant–nematode–micro-organism–soil interactions framework. Decreased precipitation frequency led to poorly coupled ecosystems, and reduced aboveground plant biomass, soil water content, soil nutrient levels, soil biota abundance and multifunctionality. By contrast, belowground plant biomass and soil potential enzyme activities increased under decreased precipitation frequency treatment. Severe degradation resulted in decoupled ecosystems and suppressed most of individual functions and multifunctionality. Using structural equation modelling, we showed that coupling had a strong direct positive effect on multifunctionality (standardized total effect: 0.74), while multifunctionality was weakened by greater soil water variation (−0.54) and higher soil pH (−0.53). The great sensitivity of ecosystem coupling to altered precipitation regimes and degradation highlights the importance of considering interactions among biotic and abiotic components when predicting early ecological impacts under changing environments. Moreover, the positive relationship between ecosystem coupling and functioning suggests that restoration of degraded grasslands may be achieved by intensifying ecological interactions.
AB - Grasslands across arid and semi-arid regions are predicted to experience reductions in precipitation frequency. Besides, grassland degradation has become a serious problem in many of these areas. Despite increasing evidence suggesting compound effects of these synchronous alterations on biotic and abiotic ecosystem constituents, we still do not know how they will impact the coupling among ecosystem constituents and its consequences on ecosystem functioning. Here, we assessed the effects of decreased precipitation frequency and grassland degradation on ecosystem coupling, quantified based on the mean strength of pairwise correlations among multispecies communities and their physicochemical environment, individual functions and ecosystem multifunctionality, and reported their relationships within a mechanistic plant–nematode–micro-organism–soil interactions framework. Decreased precipitation frequency led to poorly coupled ecosystems, and reduced aboveground plant biomass, soil water content, soil nutrient levels, soil biota abundance and multifunctionality. By contrast, belowground plant biomass and soil potential enzyme activities increased under decreased precipitation frequency treatment. Severe degradation resulted in decoupled ecosystems and suppressed most of individual functions and multifunctionality. Using structural equation modelling, we showed that coupling had a strong direct positive effect on multifunctionality (standardized total effect: 0.74), while multifunctionality was weakened by greater soil water variation (−0.54) and higher soil pH (−0.53). The great sensitivity of ecosystem coupling to altered precipitation regimes and degradation highlights the importance of considering interactions among biotic and abiotic components when predicting early ecological impacts under changing environments. Moreover, the positive relationship between ecosystem coupling and functioning suggests that restoration of degraded grasslands may be achieved by intensifying ecological interactions.
KW - ecological interactions
KW - ecosystem multifunctionality
KW - global change
KW - multitrophic communities
KW - nematodes
KW - plants
KW - soil micro-organisms
U2 - 10.1111/1365-2435.14425
DO - 10.1111/1365-2435.14425
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85169706116
SN - 0269-8463
VL - 37
SP - 2910
EP - 2926
JO - Functional Ecology
JF - Functional Ecology
IS - 11
ER -