Enhanced rock weathering boosts ecosystem multifunctionality via improving microbial networks complexity in a tropical forest plantation

Xing Wang; Guochen Li; Arshad Ali; Camelia Algora; Manuel Delgado Baquerizo; Daniel S Goll; Sara Vicca; Tongtong Xu; Boyuan Bi; Qiong Chen; Luxiang Lin; Yunting Fang; Zhanqing Hao; Zhenxin Li; Zuoqiang Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123477

Enhanced rock weathering boosts ecosystem multifunctionality via improving microbial networks complexity in a tropical forest plantation

J Environ Manage. 2024 Nov 29:373:123477. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123477. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xing Wang¹, Guochen Li², Arshad Ali³, Camelia Algora⁴, Manuel Delgado Baquerizo⁴, Daniel S Goll⁵, Sara Vicca⁶, Tongtong Xu¹, Boyuan Bi¹, Qiong Chen¹, Luxiang Lin⁷, Yunting Fang⁸, Zhanqing Hao¹, Zhenxin Li⁹, Zuoqiang Yuan¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Qinling Ecological Intelligent Monitoring and Protection, School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China. Electronic address: ligc@iae.ac.cn.
³ College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
⁴ Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS) CSIC, Sevilla, E-41012, Spain.
⁵ Laboratoire Des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Université Paris-Saclay, Paris, France.
⁶ Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Biology Department, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
⁷ CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Education, School of Ecology and Environment, Tibet University, Lhasa, China.
¹⁰ Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Qinling Ecological Intelligent Monitoring and Protection, School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Education, School of Ecology and Environment, Tibet University, Lhasa, China. Electronic address: zqyuan@nwpu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39615472
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123477

Abstract

Afforestation is expected to contribute to mitigate global change by promoting carbon stocks and multiple ecosystem services. However, the success of plantations may be limited by the availability of soil nutrients. This is especially critical for plantations in tropical ecosystems which are known to be nutrient poor ecosystems. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) represents a promising strategy for improving soil health and carbon sequestration in such ecosystems. We added wollastonite skarn, a calcium silicate rock, to soils in a rubber plantation in Yunnan, China, as part of an ERW strategy aimed at promoting soil functioning and biodiversity. Statistical significance was determined using a linear mixed-effects model, with p-values indicating the level of significance. The addition of wollastonite skarn significantly enhanced key ecosystem functions related to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, silicon, biodiversity, and pathogen control. However, it did not significantly affect soil enzyme activity. Some of these responses to the addition of wollastonite skarn may be associated with an increase in soil pH. Microbial network complexity played a critical role in explaining the changes in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to ERW, through both direct and indirect pathways. SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that ERW is a viable strategy for improving soil health and ecosystem resilience in tropical plantations, which are limited in nutrients. Thus, ERW has implications for carbon management and climate change mitigation.

Keywords: Co-occurrence networks; Ecosystem multifunctionality; Enhanced rock weathering; Forest plantation; Microbial diversity; Soil nutrient limitations.