Abstract
Forest biodiversity enhances ecosystem functionality and underpins sustainable forest management by improving soil nutrient cycling. As a representative sustainable management practice, tree species mixing (TSM) increases this functionality by regulating plant-soil nutrient interactions. This study compared the effects of TSM management on stand features, plant diversity, and soil microbial properties across different developmental stages of Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations. The results demonstrated that TSM management significantly enhanced the overall functional efficiency of the ecosystem. Specifically, TSM management improved stand features and reduced competition intensity among trees, which increased α-diversity of each vegetation layer while decreasing its β-diversity. Furthermore, TSM management increased litter layer thickness and soil available phosphorus content, with the magnitude of these effects varying across different management stages. Concurrently, although there was a reduction in α-diversity of bacteria (Chao1: −7.3%; Shannon: −2.7%), soil core microbial community exhibited an enrichment of oligotrophic bacteria ( Acidibacter : +29.1%) and an increase in core fungal taxa, a shift that enhanced the decomposition of organic matter (litter thickness: +27.8%) and the transformation of nutrients (available nitrogen (N): +32.6%). Structural equation modeling (SEM) further confirmed that TSM management primarily drives soil carbon accumulation through the “tree diversity–core bacterial community–microbial biomass” pathway. In summary, this study reveals that TSM management promotes forest plant diversity and improves litter and soil conditions at the cost of reducing α-diversity and increasing the soil core bacterial community, ultimately leading to enhanced overall ecosystem functional efficiency. This finding provides important guidance for optimizing the structure, function, and resilience of degraded Chinese fir plantations, and offers a scientific basis for future decisions on balancing microbial community changes in the context of species diversity conservation and soil fertility restoration.
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Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing management significantly enhanced the overall functional efficiency of the ecosystem in Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolata
Cunninghamia lanceolatat0 - Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- overall functional efficiency of the ecosysteme0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management significantly enhanced the overall functional efficiency of the ecosystem”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing improved stand features.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- stand featurese0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management improved stand features”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing reduced competition intensity among trees.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- competition intensity among treese0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management improved stand features and reduced competition intensity among trees”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing increased the α-diversity of each vegetation layer.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- α-diversity of each vegetation layere0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management improved stand features and reduced competition intensity among trees, which increased α-diversity of each vegetation layer”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing decreased the β-diversity of each vegetation layer.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- β-diversitye0
- Direction
- decreasinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management improved stand features and reduced competition intensity among trees, which increased α-diversity of each vegetation layer while decreasing its β-diversity”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species mixing increased litter layer thickness and soil available phosphorus content, with the magnitude varying across management stages.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- litter layer thickness and soil available phosphorus contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management increased litter layer thickness and soil available phosphorus content”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil bacterial α-diversity (Chao1) was reduced by 7.3%.
Verbatim
e0“there was a reduction in α-diversity of bacteria (Chao1: −7.3%; Shannon: −2.7%)”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil bacterial α-diversity (Shannon) was reduced by 2.7%.
Verbatim
e0“there was a reduction in α-diversity of bacteria (Chao1: −7.3%; Shannon: −2.7%)”
Claim · model-written summary
The soil core microbial community showed an enrichment of oligotrophic bacteria (Acidibacter, +29.1%).
Verbatim
e0“soil core microbial community exhibited an enrichment of oligotrophic bacteria ( Acidibacter : +29.1%)”
Claim · model-written summary
The soil core microbial community showed an increase in core fungal taxa.
Verbatim
e0“an increase in core fungal taxa”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors attribute to the microbial shift enhanced decomposition of organic matter (litter thickness +27.8%).
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Outcome
- decomposition of organic mattere0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Value
- +27.8%e0
- Qualifier
- a shifte0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a shift that enhanced the decomposition of organic matter (litter thickness: +27.8%)”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors attribute to the microbial shift enhanced transformation of nutrients (available nitrogen +32.6%).
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Outcome
- transformation of nutrientse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Value
- +32.6%e0
- Qualifier
- a shifte0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a shift that enhanced the decomposition of organic matter (litter thickness: +27.8%) and the transformation of nutrients (available nitrogen (N): +32.6%)”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”
Claim · model-written summary
Structural equation modeling indicated that tree species mixing mainly drives soil carbon accumulation via the tree diversity-core bacterial community-microbial biomass pathway.
- Taxon
- Cunninghamia lanceolataCunninghamia lanceolatat0
- Treatment
- TSM managemente0
- Outcome
- soil carbon accumulatione0
- Qualifier
- tree diversity–core bacterial community–microbial biomasse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“TSM management primarily drives soil carbon accumulation through the “tree diversity–core bacterial community–microbial biomass” pathway”
t0“Cunninghamia lanceolata”