Nitrogen fertilization outweighs plant species loss in shaping bacterial belowground diversity in an alpine meadow on the central Tibetan Plateau.
6 affiliations
- 1Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstrasse 7B, Braunschweig, 38124, Germany.
- 2Institute of Geosystems and Bioindication, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, Braunschweig, 38106, Germany.
- 3State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, PR China.
- 4State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, PR China.
- 5Institute of Earth System Sciences, Section Soil Science, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany.
- 6Chair of Microbial Physiology, Technical University of Munich, Emil-Ramann-Strasse 4, Emil-Ramann-Strasse 4, 85354, Freising, Germany.
Abstract
Plant species loss and nitrogen fertilization affect grassland biodiversity. However, their interactive effects on plant communities, soil properties, and the soil microbiome remain insufficiently understood. We analysed how the removal of plant species, with and without urea addition, influenced plant diversity, soil properties, and soil bacterial communities in a Tibetan Plateau grassland. Continuous plant species removal and urea addition over 7 years modified plant beta-diversity equally strong, while urea exerted a stronger negative effect on plant alpha-diversity. Both, plant species removal and urea addition caused soil acidification and an increase in NO₂⁻/NO₃⁻, while dynamics in total organic carbon and total organic nitrogen were mainly driven by the growing season. Structural equation modeling identified soil acidification via urea addition as the most important indirect driver that negatively affected bacterial alpha-diversity and shifted bacterial beta-diversity. Urea addition also exerted direct negative effects on bacterial alpha- and beta-diversity, causing repression of oligotrophic (Acidobacteriota, Chloroflexota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota) and stimulation of copiotrophic (Bacillota, Bacteroidota, and Pseudomonadota) bacterial taxa. Plant species removal caused slight increases in bacterial alpha-diversity, paralleled by less diverse but more even plant communities. We show that soil acidification by urea fertilization outweighs plant species loss in its negative effect on bacterial soil biodiversity in Tibetan grasslands.
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BibTeX
@article{wu2026nitrogen,
title = {{Nitrogen fertilization outweighs plant species loss in shaping bacterial belowground diversity in an alpine meadow on the central Tibetan Plateau.}},
author = {Dongmei Wu and CiRen Quzong and Zhongjun Jia and Antje Schwalb and Georg Guggenberger and Shiping Wang and Tsechoe Dorji and Michael Pester},
journal = {FEMS microbiology ecology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1093/femsec/fiag110},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42847914},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Nitrogen fertilization outweighs plant species loss in shaping bacterial belowground diversity in an alpine meadow on the central Tibetan Plateau.
AU - Dongmei Wu
AU - CiRen Quzong
AU - Zhongjun Jia
AU - Antje Schwalb
AU - Georg Guggenberger
AU - Shiping Wang
AU - Tsechoe Dorji
AU - Michael Pester
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - FEMS microbiology ecology
DO - 10.1093/femsec/fiag110
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42847914
AB - Plant species loss and nitrogen fertilization affect grassland biodiversity. However, their interactive effects on plant communities, soil properties, and the soil microbiome remain insufficiently understood. We analysed how the removal of plant species, with and without urea addition, influenced plant diversity, soil properties, and soil bacterial communities in a Tibetan Plateau grassland. Continuous plant species removal and urea addition over 7 years modified plant beta-diversity equally strong, while urea exerted a stronger negative effect on plant alpha-diversity. Both, plant species removal and urea addition caused soil acidification and an increase in NO₂⁻/NO₃⁻, while dynamics in total organic carbon and total organic nitrogen were mainly driven by the growing season. Structural equation modeling identified soil acidification via urea addition as the most important indirect driver that negatively affected bacterial alpha-diversity and shifted bacterial beta-diversity. Urea addition also exerted direct negative effects on bacterial alpha- and beta-diversity, causing repression of oligotrophic (Acidobacteriota, Chloroflexota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota) and stimulation of copiotrophic (Bacillota, Bacteroidota, and Pseudomonadota) bacterial taxa. Plant species removal caused slight increases in bacterial alpha-diversity, paralleled by less diverse but more even plant communities. We show that soil acidification by urea fertilization outweighs plant species loss in its negative effect on bacterial soil biodiversity in Tibetan grasslands.
SN - 0168-6496
SN - 1574-6941
ER -