Abstract
Background and aims
In deserts, some shrubs can facilitate their associated herbaceous communities. Here we tested the hypothesis that such a positive effect of shrubs may be mediated by their roles in modifying soil biotic and abiotic properties.
Methods
To test these hypotheses, we first compared herbaceous plant communities and soil properties (soil resources and soil organisms) underneath and outside shrubs of five Caragana species. Then we analyzed relationships between the shrub-mediated facilitation effects on herbaceous communities and the effects of shrubs on soil properties. We also tested the effects of soil conditioned by the shrubs on growth of herbaceous plants and estimated the contribution of the soil properties to facilitation.
Results
In the desert, the Caragana shrubs facilitated their associated herbaceous communities via accumulating more soil resources and soil organisms and conserving more rainwater at shallow soil layers beneath than outside their canopies. Alterations in the distribution patterns of soil resources and soil organisms were significantly correlated with the facilitation effects of the shrubs on the herbaceous communities. The soil factors with important contribution were humidity (path coefficient (PC): 0.389), nutrients (PC: 0.318), organisms (PC: 0.213) and enzymes (PC: 0.122).
Conclusion
Shrub-mediated horizontal and vertical distributions of soil resources and soil organisms is important drivers of their facilitation effects on the associated herbaceous communities in deserts. Thus, shrubs play an important role as ecosystem engineers in soil resource redistribution and soil organism community establishment, which can influence the assembly of herbaceous plant communities in hyper-arid regions such as deserts.
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Data availability
The datasets analysed during the current study will available in the Dryad repository when the manuscript is accepted.
Code availability
Not applicable.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901140, 31570453) (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/). We thank Prof. Fei-Hai Yu for English language corrections.
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This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901140 and 31570453) (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/).
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Conceptualization: [Chengcang Ma]; Formal analysis: [Lina Xie], [Lei Han]; Investigation and experiment: [Lina Xie], [Lei Han], [Fang Zhao], [Fanglei Gao]; Writing - original draft preparation: [Lina Xie], [Lei Han]; Writing - review and editing: [Guogang Zhang], [Hongyu Guo], [Chengcang Ma]; Funding acquisition: [Lina Xie], [Chengcang Ma]; Supervision: [Chengcang Ma].
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Xie, L., Han, L., Guo, H. et al. Shrubs facilitate herbaceous communities in a desert by modifying soil properties. Plant Soil 491, 161–176 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05774-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05774-x