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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2026, Vol. 25 Issue (9): 3893-3903    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2026.01.005
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Macroaggregates magnify the positive feedback of trophic cascades on soil organic carbon accrual

Lele Jin1, 2, 3*, Xiaoyue Wang1*, Yu Luo4, Jie Zheng1, Francisco Dini-Andreote5, Chao Liang6, Yuji Jiang2#

1 State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China

2 College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

4 Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

5 Department of Plant Science & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

6 Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

 Highlights 

Fungivorous nematodes enhanced fungal-derived carbon accrual via trophic cascade.

Macroaggregates magnified trophic cascade effects on soil fungal carbon accrual.

Manure amendments strengthened nematode-fungus interactions and soil organic carbon (SOC) accrual.

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摘要  

线虫与真菌之间的相互作用对土壤碳循环具有重要意义。然而,它们对于土壤有机碳(SOC)累积的级联效应尚不明确,特别是土壤团聚体和有机肥添加在调节营养级联中的作用。基于一项为期19年的施肥试验,我们探究了线虫捕食如何影响真菌残体碳(FNC)和球囊霉素相关土壤蛋白(GRSPs),并在不同有机肥添加处理下,量化了它们对不同团聚体组分中SOC的贡献。研究发现,线虫捕食显著提高了真菌生物量,并促进了真菌群落的确定性组装。这些效应强烈依赖于团聚体组分,其中在大团聚体(LA)组分中观察到最显著的影响。一项微宇宙实验证实,线虫捕食使真菌生物量增加了6%以上,尤其是在LA组分中。有机肥的添加进一步刺激了真菌生长,强化了群落的确定性组装过程,从而增强了营养级联驱动下的FNCGRSPs积累。在这两种真菌来源的碳组分中,FNCSOC的贡献(40%)显著高于GRSPs17%),且LA组分中的贡献最大。路径分析进一步揭示,线虫诱导的真菌群落变化介导了有机肥添加对真菌源碳积累的正向效应。总体而言,这些发现强调了线虫在驱动正向营养级联效应对SOC积累中的关键作用。本研究为理解团聚体尺度的碳动态以及生物介导的土壤碳管理策略提供了新的见解。



Abstract  

The interactions between nematodes and fungi are important for soil carbon cycling.  However, their cascading effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) accrual remain unclear, particularly the role of soil aggregates and manure amendments in mediating this trophic cascade.  Using a 19-year fertilization experiment, we examined how nematode predation influences fungal necromass carbon (FNC) and glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSPs), and quantified their contributions to SOC across soil aggregates under different manure amendments.  Our findings showed that nematode predation significantly enhanced fungal biomass and promoted deterministic assembly of fungal communities.  These effects were strongly dependent on aggregate size, with the most pronounced responses observed in the large macroaggregate (LA) fraction.  A complementary microcosm experiment confirmed that nematode predation increased fungal biomass by over 6%, particularly in the LA fraction.  Manure amendments further stimulated fungal growth and reinforced deterministic community assembly, thereby enhancing trophic cascade-driven accrual of FNC and GRSPs.  Of the two fungal-derived carbon sources, FNC contributed more substantially to SOC (40%) than GRSPs (17%), with the greatest contribution found in the LA fraction.  Path analysis further revealed that nematode-induced changes in fungal communities mediated the positive effects of manure amendments on fungal-derived carbon accrual.  Overall, these findings underscore the pivotal role of nematodes in driving positive trophic cascade impact on SOC accrual.  Our study offers new insights into aggregate-scale carbon dynamics and biologically mediated strategies for soil carbon management.

Keywords:  fungal communities       fungivorous nematodes        biomass        assembly process        fungal-derived products        SOC accrual  
Received: 08 August 2025   Accepted: 23 December 2025 Online: 07 January 2026  
Fund: This study was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, China (42425704), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFD1900300-3), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177298 and 42307396), the Double Thousand Plan of Jiangxi Province, China (jxsq2023201046), the Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund, China (CX(24)3117), and the Frontier Project from the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSAS2401).
About author:  Lele Jin, Mobile: +86-18214738192, E-mail: jinlele@issas.ac.cn; Xiaoyue Wang, Mobile: +86-13182861251, E-mail: wangxy@issas.ac.cn; #Correspondence Yuji Jiang, E-mail: yjjiang@fafu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Lele Jin, Xiaoyue Wang, Yu Luo, Jie Zheng, Francisco Dini-Andreote, Chao Liang, Yuji Jiang. 2026. Macroaggregates magnify the positive feedback of trophic cascades on soil organic carbon accrual. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 25(9): 3893-3903.

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