Soil multifunctionality is negatively related to microbial community
stochasticity in restored grasslands
Abstract
It is generally assumed that there is a relationship between microbial
diversity and multiple ecosystem functions. Although it is indisputable
that microbial diversity is controlled by stochastic and deterministic
ecological assembly processes, the relationship between these processes
and soil multifunctionality (SMF) remains less clear. In this study, we
examined how different grassland restoration treatments, namely harvest
only, topsoil removal and topsoil removal plus propagule addition,
affected i) soil bacterial and fungal community stochasticity, ii) SMF,
and iii) the relationship between community stochasticity and SMF.
Results showed that soil microbial community stochasticity decreased in
all the three restoration treatments, while SMF increased. Soil
multifunctionality was found to be significantly and negatively
correlated with soil microbial community stochasticity. Plant diversity
and plant C/N indirectly influenced SMF by regulating the microbial
community stochasticity. Our findings provide empirical evidence that
when deterministic community assembly processes dominate in soils, then
higher microbial functioning is expected.