Coupling Between the Responses of Plants, Soil, and Microorganisms Following Grazing Exclusion in an Overgrazed Grassland.

ABSTRACT: Grazing exclusion is an effective management practice to restore grassland ecosystem functioning. However, little is known about the role of soil microbial communities in regulating grassland ecosystem functioning during long-term ecosystem restorations. We evaluated the recovery of a degraded semiarid grassland ecosystem in northern China by investigating plant and soil characteristics and the role of soil microbial communities in ecosystem functioning after 22 years of grazing exclusion. Grazing exclusion significantly increased the alpha diversity and changed the community structure of bacteria, but did not significantly affect the alpha diversity or community structure of fungi. The higher abundance of copiotrophic Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes with grazing exclusion w

SUBMITTER: Wang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8351616 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature