Reseeding promotes plant biomass by improving microbial community stability and soil fertility in a degraded subalpine grassland

•Plant biomass increased with increasing number of reseeding species.•Microbial community stability increased with increasing number of reseeding species.•Microbial community stability was positively correlated with plant biomass.•Fungal community stability was the most important variable predicting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoderma 2025-01, Vol.453, p.117160, Article 117160
Main Authors: Li, Debao, Li, Sicheng, Chen, Hao, Wu, Jianping
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Grassland degradation
Microbial community stability
Microbial diversity
Microbial network structure
Plant biomass
Reseeding
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Summary:•Plant biomass increased with increasing number of reseeding species.•Microbial community stability increased with increasing number of reseeding species.•Microbial community stability was positively correlated with plant biomass.•Fungal community stability was the most important variable predicting plant biomass. Forage monoculture and grass-legume mixtures are popular reseeding practices in degraded grasslands. However, the mechanism understanding for the effect of multiple reseeding approaches on soil microbial community and their associated ecosystem functioning remains unclear. Here, we conducted a 3-year field reseeding experiment with eight treatments in a degraded grassland in southern China to test how the link between plant biomass and soil microbial community stability are influenced by plant community structure. Assessments of both above- and below-ground characteristics revealed that reseeding significantly improved plant biomass, soil fertility, and community stability by 53.96 %-126.32 %, 40.74 %-106.91 %, and 13.97 %–33.17 % (P 
ISSN:0016-7061
1872-6259
DOI:10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117160