J Plant Ecol ›› 2025, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (6): rtaf112.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf112

• Research Article •    

Diversity and productivity of a natural grassland decline with the number of global change factors

Jianyong Wang1,2, Yingxia Liu2,3, Ayub M.O. Oduor2,4,5, Mark van Kleunen6,7, Yanjie Liu2,*   

  1. 1Institute of Grassland Science, Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Songnen Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
    2State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
    3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    4Department of Applied Biology, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi 52428-00200, Kenya.
    5Shandong Key Laboratory of Eco-Environmental Science for Yellow River Delta, Shandong University of Aeronautics, Binzhou 256603, China
    6Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, Konstanz 78457, Germany
    7Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: liuyanjie@iga.ac.cn
  • Received:2025-07-01 Accepted:2025-07-15 Online:2025-07-17 Published:2025-12-01
  • Supported by:
    Yanjie Liu acknowledges funding from Innovation Team Project of Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2022CXTD01). Ayub M. O. Oduor acknowledges funding from the Chinese Academy of Sciences–President's International Fellowship Initiative (CAS-PIFI) (2021VBB0004). Jianyong Wang acknowledges funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32271585), and Jilin Provincial Natural Science Foundation (20220101288JC).

全球变化多因子耦合降低天然草地植物群落多样性和生产力

Abstract: Grasslands are highly diverse ecosystems providing important ecosystem services, but they currently face a variety of anthropogenic stressors simultaneously. Quantifying grassland responses to global change factors (GCFs) is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of global change on grassland communities and to promote their resilience in the face of future environmental challenges. We conducted a field experiment in the Songnen grassland, northeastern China, to test the combined effects of 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 GCFs, including fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, antibiotic stress, heavy metal pollution, light pollution, microplastic pollution, nitrogen deposition, tillage disturbance, and increased precipitation. We found that within one year, the increasing number of GCFs negatively impacts both the productivity and diversity of grassland communities. In comparison to exposure to a single GCF, exposure to 8 GCFs led to a reduction in productivity and species richness by 42.8% and 42.9%, respectively. Furthermore, these negative effects seem to be linked to the reduction of dominant species and the concurrent increase in neonative species (i.e., species that have expanded their geographic range into a new area without direct human assistance, but as an indirect consequence of human-induced environmental changes). The results of hierarchical diversity-interaction modeling suggested that the adverse impacts of an increasing number of GCFs on community productivity and diversity are attributable to both the specific identities of GCFs involved and their unique pairwise interactions. The results suggest that grasslands may quickly lose stability and degrade more rapidly in response to multiple co-occurring GCFs. Greater efforts should be made to conserve the functions and services of grassland ecosystems by reducing the impacts of human activities.

Key words: community composition, grassland ecosystems, grassland management, global change ecology, multiple global change factors, productivity

摘要:
草地具有较高的生物多样性并能提供重要的生态系统服务功能,然而草地生态系统正受到多种人 为干扰的威胁。量化草地生态系统对全球变化因子(GCF)的响应,对制定有效管理策略、减缓全球变化 对草地的负面影响,并提升其环境抵抗力至关重要。本研究以中国东北松嫩草地为对象,基于包含杀 菌剂、除草剂、杀虫剂、抗生素胁迫、重金属污染、光污染、微塑料污染、氮沉降、耕作干扰和降水 增加等10种GCF的因子库,构建了包含0、1、2、4、6和8种GCF的不同组合处理。研究发现,即使 在处理的第一年,随着GCF数量的增加,草地群落生产力与多样性均呈现显著下降趋势。与单一GCF 处理相比,8种GCF组合处理导致生产力降低约42.8%,物种丰富度下降约42.9%。这种负效应主要与 优势物种丰度的下降以及非本地物种(指非经人类直接引入,而是因人类活动导致的环境变化而间接扩 张至新地理范围的物种)的增加相关。层次多样性互作模型分析表明,GCF数量增加对草地生产力和多 样性的不利影响可归因于所涉及的特定GCF的独立贡献以及GCF之间的协同效应。上述研究表明,在多重 GCF共同作用下,草地生态系统可能迅速丧失稳定性并加速退化,未来亟需减少人类活动干扰,以维持 草地生态系统功能和服务能力。

关键词: 群落组成, 草地生态系统, 草地管理, 多重全球变化因子, 生产力