Effects of grazing exclusion on soil microbial diversity and its functionality in grasslands: a meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: Grazing exclusion (GE) is considered an effective strategy for restoring the degradation of overgrazed grasslands on the global scale. Soil microbial diversity plays a crucial role in supporting multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) in grassland ecosystems. However, the impact of grazing exclusion on soil microbial diversity remains uncertain. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis using a dataset comprising 246 paired observations from 46 peer-reviewed papers to estimate how GE affects microbial diversity and how these effects vary with climatic regions, grassland types, and GE duration ranging from 1 to 64 years. Meanwhile, we explored the relationship between microbial diversity and its functionality under grazing exclusion. Overall, grazing exclusion significantly increased mic

SUBMITTER: Shu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10985342 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature