J Plant Ecol ›› 2026, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (4): rtag088.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtag088

• Research Articles •     Next Articles

Long-term warming and nitrogen addition drive interface-specific bacterial assembly and enhance soil-leaf microbial connectivity

Yi Zhu1,2,†, Yunzhuo Wen1,†, Lu Bai1, Guodong Han1, Jinglei Tang1, Zijian Ye1, Zhiqiang Qu1, Guijie Zhang3, and Haiyan Ren1,*   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Forage Cultivation, Processing and High Efficient Utilization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Grassland Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010011, China;2 Grassland Research Institute, Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural & Animal Husbandry Sciences, Hohhot 010031, China;3 College of Animal Science, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
    *Corresponding author. E-mail: renhy@imau.edu.cn
    These authors contribute equally to this work.
  • Received:2026-01-22 Revised:2026-02-27 Accepted:2026-04-09 Published:2026-08-01
  • Supported by:
    This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32 260 301), the Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty (SRICSPYF-BS2025128), the Cultivating Program for Distinguished Young Scholars of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (BR230301) and Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Plan Project (2025KYPT0040).

长期增温与氮添加驱动界面特异性细菌群落构建并增强土壤-叶片微生物连通性

Abstract: Plant-microbe interactions are strongly influenced by global environmental change, but bacterial responses in diversity, assembly and cross-interface connectivity across multiple plant-soil interfaces remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated bacterial communitiated interface-specific responses in bacterial community structure, assembly processes and the contributions of different interfaces to leaf endophytic bacterial communities. We found that interface identity plays the dominant role in shaping bacterial phylogenetic α- and β-diversity, with soil communities exhibiting higher diversity than phyllosphere communities. Nitrogen addition significantly reduced phylogenetic α-diversity and resulted in a more stochastic phylogenetic structure in bulk soil, whereas warming enhanced phylogenetic clustering in rhizosphere soil. Notably, warming increased phylogenetic dispersion and β- diversity of leaf epiphytic bacteria but decreased β-diversity in rhizosphere soil, indicating contrasting above- and belowground responses. Community assembly across interfaces was dominated by homogeneous selection, with stochastic processes contributing in an interface-dependent manner. Leaf endophytic communities remained remarkably stable, suggesting strong host filtering. Microbial source tracking revealed that warming and N addition increased soil-derived contributions to leaf endophytes, with over 70% of the community originating from soil under global change treatments. Overall, our results demonstrate that long-term warming and N addition drive interface-specific bacterial assembly and enhance soil to leaf microbial connectivity, highlighting the importance of a multi-interface perspective in understanding microbial responses to global change.

Global change may reshape bacterial communities across plant–soil interfaces in dryland grasslands. Based on an 18-year field manipulative experiment, this study shows that long-term warming and nitrogen addition exert interface-dependent effects on plant-soil bacterial communities in a desert steppe. Soil bacterial communities are more sensitive to these global change drivers, whereas leaf-associated communities, particularly leaf endophytes, remain comparatively buffered and strongly regulated by host filtering. Meanwhile, warming and nitrogen addition enhance soil-to-leaf microbial connectivity, highlighting the importance of a multi-interface perspective for understanding microbial responses to global change.

Key words: global change, phylogenetic diversity, community assembly, phyllosphere bacteria, rhizosphere soil bacteria, microbial source, soil-leaf microbial connectivity

摘要:
全球环境变化对植物-微生物互作产生深远影响,但在不同植物-土壤界面中,细菌多样性、群落构建及跨界面连通性对环境变化的响应机制仍不明确。本研究依托温带荒漠草原长达18年的增温与氮添加实验平台,解析优势植物短花针茅(Stipa breviflora)叶表附生细菌、叶内生细菌、根际土壤及非根际土壤中细菌群落特征,揭示细菌群落结构、构建过程的界面特异性响应规律,以及不同界面对叶内生细菌群落的贡献。结果表明: 1)界面类型是塑造细菌系统发育α多样性和β多样性的主导因素,且土壤细菌群落多样性高于叶际细菌群落。2)氮添加显著降低了非根际土壤细菌系统发育α多样性,并使其群落呈现更具随机性的系统发育结构;而增温则加剧了根际土壤细菌系统发育聚类效应。值得注意的是,增温提升了叶表附生细菌的系统发育分散程度与β多样性,却降低了根际土壤细菌β多样性,表明地上与地下细菌群落对环境变化的响应模式存在差异。3)各界面间的细菌群落构建均以同质化选择为主,随机过程的贡献则表现出明显的界面依赖性。叶内生细菌群落高度稳定,体现出强烈的宿主筛选效应。微生物来源分析显示,增温与氮添加提升了土壤来源细菌对叶内生群落的贡献,在增温和氮添加处理下,超70%的叶内生细菌源自土壤。综上所述,长期增温和氮添加会驱动细菌群落产生界面特异性构建模式,并强化土壤向叶片的微生物连通性。因此,凸显了采用多界面视角研究微生物对全球变化响应十分重要。

关键词: 全球变化, 系统发育多样性, 群落构建, 叶际细菌, 根际土壤细菌, 微生物来源, 土壤-叶片微生物连通性