Contrasting influences of two dominant plants, Dasiphora fruticosa and Ligularia virguarea, on aboveground and belowground communities in an alpine meadow.

ABSTRACT: Soil organisms are abundant, phylogenetically and functionally diverse, and interact to catalyse and regulate critical soil processes. Understanding what structures belowground communities is therefore fundamental to gaining insight into ecosystem functioning. Dominant plants have been shown to influence belowground communities both directly and indirectly through changes in abiotic and biotic factors. In a field study, we used piecewise structural equation modelling to disentangle and compare the effects of a dominant allelopathic plant, Ligularia virgaurea, and a dominant facilitative plant, Dasiphora fruticosa, on understory plant, soil microbial and nematode community composition in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan plateau. Dasiphora fruticosa was associated with ch

SUBMITTER: Song H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10140320 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature