title: Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland.
abstract: The trait-based approach shows that plant functional diversity strongly affects ecosystem properties. However, few empirical studies show the relationship between soil fungal diversity and plant functional diversity in natural ecosystems. We investigated soil fungal diversity along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semifixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China, using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 18S rRNA and gene sequencing. We also examined associations of soil fungal diversity with plant functional diversity reflected by the dominant species' traits in community (community-weighted mean, CWM) and the dispersion of functional trait values (FD is). We further used the structure equation model (SEM) to evaluate how plant richness, biomass, functional diversity, and soil properties affect soil fungal diversity in sandy grassland restoration. Soil fungal richness in mobile dune and semifixed dune was markedly lower than those of fixed dune and grassland (P < 0.05). Soil fungal richness was positively associated with plant richness, biomass, CWM plant height, and soil gradient aggregated from the principal component analysis, but SEM results showed that plant richness and CWM plant height determined by soil properties were the main factors exerting direct effects. Soil gradient increased fungal richness through indirect effect on vegetation rather than direct effect. The negative indirect effect of FDis on soil fungal richness was through its effect on plant biomass. Our final SEM model based on plant functional diversity explained nearly 70% variances of soil fungal richness. Strong association of soil fungal richness with the dominant species in the community supported the mass ratio hypothesis. Our results clearly highlight the role of plant functional diversity in enhancing associations of soil fungal diversity with community structure and soil properties in sandy grassland ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China; Laboratory of Stress Ecophysiology and Biotechnology (LSEB) CAREERICAS Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Xiaoan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Shaokun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Xueyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Tonghui
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Naiman Desertification Research Station Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou 730000 China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Ecosystem properties; functional dispersion; functional traits; mass ratio hypothesis; niche complementarity; structure equation model; vegetation restoration
references.citation: Biol Lett. 2010 Feb 23;6(1):116-9
references.pmid: 19755530
references.citation: Microb Ecol. 2012 May;63(4):804-12
references.pmid: 22080256
references.citation: Microb Ecol. 2015 Jul;70(1):188-95
references.pmid: 25399511
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Dec 26;104(52):20684-9
references.pmid: 18093933
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2011 Oct;14(10):1001-9
references.pmid: 21790936
references.citation: Appl Environ Microbiol. 2009 Dec;75(24):7639-48
references.pmid: 19854915
references.citation: Ecology. 2008 Jan;89(1):216-25
references.pmid: 18376563
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2011 Oct;28(10):2731-9
references.pmid: 21546353
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013 Dec 31;8(12 ):e85490
references.pmid: 24392015
references.citation: Microb Ecol. 2004 Oct;48(3):424-30
references.pmid: 15692862
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2006 Jul;9(7):870-86
references.pmid: 16796577
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2006 Jun;9(6):741-58
references.pmid: 16706917
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2008 Mar;11(3):296-310
references.pmid: 18047587
references.citation: New Phytol. 2007;174(2):230-3
references.pmid: 17388883
references.citation: Ecology. 2010 Jan;91(1):299-305
references.pmid: 20380219
references.citation: Nature. 2014 Nov 27;515(7528):505-11
references.pmid: 25428498
references.citation: New Phytol. 2015 Sep;207(4):1145-58
references.pmid: 25952659
references.citation: PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24166
references.pmid: 21931659
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2012 Nov;15(11):1230-9
references.pmid: 22882451
references.citation: Trends Ecol Evol. 2005 Nov;20(11):634-41
references.pmid: 16701447
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2014 Apr;17(4):435-44
references.pmid: 24393400
references.citation: ISME J. 2013 Sep;7(9):1852-61
references.pmid: 23598789
references.citation: New Phytol. 2014 Jul;203(1):233-44
references.pmid: 24641509
references.citation: Science. 2014 Nov 28;346(6213):1256688
references.pmid: 25430773
references.citation: Ecology. 2015 Aug;96(8):2300-10
references.pmid: 26405754
references.citation: PLoS One. 2011 Mar 10;6(3):e17476
references.pmid: 21423747