Journal of Integrative Agriculture ›› 2026, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (4): 1675-1686.DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2025.06.015

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植物群落微量营养元素通过改变植物生长、繁殖和生存权衡调节土壤碳储量

  

  • 收稿日期:2025-02-20 修回日期:2025-06-09 接受日期:2025-05-14 出版日期:2026-04-20 发布日期:2026-03-16

Plant community micronutrients mediate the soil carbon stock by altering plant growth, reproduction and survival trade-offs

Yi Zhou, Shenghua Chang, Xiaojuan Huang, Wenjun Wang, Fujiang Hou#, Yanrong Wang, Zhibiao Nan   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems/Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Engineering Technology Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Utilization of Degraded Grassland in Northwest China, National Forestry and Grassland Administration/College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
  • Received:2025-02-20 Revised:2025-06-09 Accepted:2025-05-14 Online:2026-04-20 Published:2026-03-16
  • About author:Yi Zhou, Mobile: +86-15729611776, E-mail: 120220900630@lzu.edu.cn; #Correspondence Fujiang Hou, Mobile: +86-13893674712, E-mail: cyhoufj@lzu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    This work was funded by the Program of National Science and Technology Assistance, China (KY202002011), the Innovative Research Team of Ministry of Education, China (IRT_17R50), the Key Research and Development Program of Forestry and Grassland Administration of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China (20NXLCZD01), and the Technological Support for Grassland Ecological Management and Lanzhou City’s Scientific Research Funding Subsidy to Lanzhou University, China.

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摘要：

尽管微量营养元素在植物代谢过程和碳循环中发挥着重要作用，但人们对微量营养元素调节植物群落性状的机制仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们利用一项长期试验来探究沿降水梯度上植物群落微量营养元素和性状的潜在机制。结果表明，随着时间的推移，植物群落倾向横向生长和无性繁殖。从1985年到2022年，典型草原北部植物群落铁含量增加了18.8%，而南部则减少了25.2%。此外，北部植物群落的生长和繁殖权衡对微量元素含量和吸收效率都很敏感。其中，植物群落的锰和锌含量会促进纵向生长，但锌和铁的吸收效率会阻碍有性生殖。此外，土壤水分和人均 GDP 分别是北部和南部微量营养元素变化的主要驱动因素。降水量的波动主要调节所有地点的群落性状。在干旱地区，微量营养元素驱动的繁殖变化通过平衡生物量分配来稳定土壤碳储量。这些发现有助于我们更好地理解植物微量营养元素、性状和土壤碳储量之间的耦合关系，从而为在全球变化情景下制定科学的草原保护战略提供依据。

Abstract:

Despite the essential role of micronutrients in plant metabolic processes and carbon cycle, the mechanisms by which micronutrients regulate plant community traits remain poorly understood.  Here, we used a long-term experiment to explore the potential mechanisms of plant community micronutrients and traits along a precipitation gradient.  Our results showed that plants shifted toward lateral growth and asexual reproduction over time.  From 1985 to 2022, the plant community Fe content increased by 18.8% in the north but declined by 25.2% in the south of the typical steppe.  Furthermore, plant community growth and reproduction were sensitive to both micronutrient contents and uptake efficiencies in the north of the typical steppe.  While plant community Mn and Zn contents enhanced growth longitudinally, Zn and Fe uptake efficiencies hindered sexual reproduction.  Furthermore, soil moisture and GDP per capita were the key drivers of micronutrient variation in the north and south of the typical steppe, respectively.  Precipitation fluctuations primarily regulated community traits across all sites.  In the arid site, micronutrient-driven shifts in reproduction stabilized the soil carbon stock by balancing biomass allocation.  These findings can help us to better understand the coupling of plant micronutrients, traits, and soil carbon stocks, thereby providing the basis for a scientific grassland conservation strategy under global change scenarios.

Key words: climate change , human activities , precipitation gradient , community morphological and structural traits , plant micronutrients , long-term monitoring