Defoliation enhances the positive effects of soil microbial diversity on plant productivity

Defoliation, often induced by herbivores, and soil microbiomes are recognized as key drivers of plant diversity and productivity in grasslands. However, lack of experiments simultaneously manipulating defoliation and soil microbial diversity has constrained our understanding of how these two factors interactively influence both above‐ground and below‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP and BNPP). We employed a soil filtering approach to create the gradient of soil microbial diversity and removal of above‐ground biomass by clipping to simulate defoliation effect from herbivores. Our goal was to investigate how soil microbial diversity affected both ANPP and BNPP under the stress of defoliation. We found that defoliation and soil microbial diversity loss decreased the ANPP and BNPP of the plant community, and Medicago falcata (legume) was more responsive to these treatments than Leymus chinensis (grass) and Artemisia frigida (forb). ANPP was positively correlated with soil microbial richness only when plants suffered defoliation. By contrast, BNPP showed a closer relationship with soil fungal richness than bacteria, and defoliation enhanced this relationship. The structural equation model (SEM) showed that defoliation indirectly regulated ANPP by affecting plant P content, while soil bacterial diversity loss decreased the ANPP through altering plant P and fungal diversity loss directly decreased BNPP. The LEfSe and linear regression analysis revealed that the biomarkers of bacteria (e.g. Actinobacteria, Xanthobacteraceae) and fungi (e.g. Ascomycota, Glomerales) significantly contributed to the variation of ANPP and BNPP under defoliation treatment respectively. Defoliation enhanced phosphorus acquisition by soil microorganisms, further strengthening the microbial regulation of plant productivity. Overall, we provide novel insights on how defoliation enhances the positive effects of soil microbial diversity on above‐ and below‐ground net primary productivity. Our findings highlight that soil microorganisms associated with phosphorus cycling are mobilized to play a more active role in promoting productivity after defoliation. It may provide a new perspective on how to better utilize the role of soil microorganisms in grazed or managed grasslands. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.