Aims

The interactions between aboveground and belowground biota are crucial for determining plant community composition and the response of ecosystem stability to climate change, but how warming and drought further impact plant performance and plant competition during plant-soil feedback (PSF) remains unclear.

Methods

We investigated the impact of soil community compositions and root traits on the PSF and plant competition. We used two types of plants: Leymus chinensis (perennial and dominant), and Kalimeris integrifolia (annual and subordinate) subjected to warming and drought in both monoculture and competitive conditions. Soil bacterial and fungal community compositions, aboveground biomass, and plant root functional traits were assessed.

Results

We found that in most cases, L. chinensis remained the dominant position in interspecific competition due to its stronger root system and other aspects. However, K. integrifolia exhibited higher competitiveness after plant-soil feedback, particularly in soil that had been conditioned by K. integrifolia. Our path analysis results indicate that warming had an impact on the PSF and plant competitiveness by negatively influencing the soil bacterial community composition and positively influencing the soil fungal community composition rather than affecting plant root traits. Drought did not affect the PSF and plant competitiveness via affecting soil microbial community and plant root traits.

Conclusions

Our findings indicated that soil microbial communities may have a greater impact on the PSF under climate change. Our study also highlights the mechanisms by which climate change alters the PSF and the structure of plant communities by altering the interactions between plant and soil microorganisms.

中文翻译：

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在变暖和干旱条件下，土壤微生物群落对植物-土壤反馈和植物-植物相互作用的贡献大于根部性状

目标

地上和地下生物群之间的相互作用对于确定植物群落组成和生态系统稳定性对气候变化的响应至关重要，但变暖和干旱如何进一步影响植物-土壤反馈（PSF）过程中的植物性能和植物竞争仍不清楚。

方法

我们研究了土壤群落组成和根系性状对 PSF 和植物竞争的影响。我们使用了两种类型的植物：羊草（多年生和优势植物）和马兰（一年生和次生植物），它们在单一栽培和竞争条件下都受到变暖和干旱的影响。评估了土壤细菌和真菌群落组成、地上生物量和植物根功能性状。

结果

我们发现，在大多数情况下，羊草因其根系较强等方面，在种间竞争中仍保持优势地位。然而，在植物-土壤反馈后，尤其是在经过K. integrifolia调节的土壤中， K. integrifolia表现出更高的竞争力。我们的路径分析结果表明，变暖通过对土壤细菌群落组成产生负面影响，对土壤真菌群落组成产生积极影响，而不是影响植物根部性状，从而对 PSF 和植物竞争力产生影响。干旱并未通过影响土壤微生物群落和植物根系性状而影响PSF和植物竞争力。

结论

我们的研究结果表明，气候变化下土壤微生物群落可能对 PSF 产生更大的影响。我们的研究还强调了气候变化通过改变植物和土壤微生物之间的相互作用来改变 PSF 和植物群落结构的机制。