Abstract The seasonal imbalance between forage supply and livestock demand remains a fundamental constraint on sustainable grassland animal husbandry. Addressing this challenge, this study proposed the novel “Grass–Animal Energy Pump (GEP)” framework to elucidate the mechanism of energy flow evolution during the smart transformation of pastures. Rooted in grassland ecosystem dynamics, the GEP converts solar energy into biological energy through plant-animal-microbe synergy, governed by soil carbon sequestration, primary productivity, animal conversion efficiency, and environmental regulation. Tracing the developmental trajectory of ranching, we identified three distinct evolutionary stages: traditional rotational grazing (GEP–A), mechanized and informatized coupling systems (GEP–B), and AI-driven intelligent ranches (GEP–C). Each stage represents a progressive enhancement in energy pump efficiency, facilitating the regulation of grass-livestock balance. Furthermore, we expanded the GEP concept to the “Soil–Grass–Animal–Environment Energy Pump (SEP)” framework, which integrates soil health, environmental dynamics, and market forces to holistically restructure the system. Our results demonstrated that intelligentization optimizes the speed, direction, and efficiency of energy flow through technological and institutional innovations, thereby resolving seasonal imbalances and bolstering ecological sustainability. Future efforts must transcend the paradigms of the industrial era to establish a “Digital Nomadism” model that merges technological empowerment with traditional ecological wisdom. By prioritizing multi-element synergy, the SEP ensures that technology serves ecosystem restoration while maintaining the natural equilibrium of grasslands. This approach provides a global blueprint for pasture intelligence, balancing productivity with ecological resilience, and offers a theoretical foundation for sustainable livestock systems worldwide.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can facilitate plant invasions, particularly in nutrient-depleted soils. Establishment of this mutualism often depends on both soil nutrients and secondary chemicals released by plants. Yet, it remains unclear how invasive plants maintain or enhance AMF colonization in nutrient-deficient soil. We investigated the effects of different levels of nitrogen (N: 0, 2, or 10 ppm) and phosphorus (P: 0, 6, or 25 ppm) added to sand in a factorial design on three flavonoids (isoquercitrin, quercitrin, quercetin) associated with AMF colonization in root exudates of Triadica sebifera from introduced and native populations. We assessed effects of soil nutrients alone on secondary chemical metabolism with sterilized growth substrate treatments. We found that plants from introduced populations had higher root exudate concentrations of quercitrin and quercetin plus greater AMF colonization than those from native populations under every N and P treatment combination. The effects of P availability on flavonoids depended on N availability. Flavonoid concentrations and AMF colonization decreased with P addition under no N treatment but increased with P addition under low N treatment. P addition had smaller effects on AMF colonization under the high N treatment. In sterilized growth substrate, P addition had stronger effects on quercitrin than quercetin. These results suggest that soil nutrients may influence AMF colonization by modifying flavonoids in root exudates. Our findings provide evidence that the responses of flavonoid metabolism to soil nutrients are an important driver of AMF colonization and the ability of invasive plants to sustain performance under nutrient stress.

Abstract Anthropogenic habitat fragmentation is a major driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems. However, its effects on species interaction networks remain poorly understood, especially for soil microbial communities. Using 23 grassland fragments within an agricultural mosaic of the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China, we investigated the cascading effects of habitat fragmentation on soil microbial networks mediated by biodiversity. We found that habitat fragmentation negatively influenced soil microbial diversity and networks primarily by reducing patch area. Larger patches supported higher species richness and more complex and stable networks of soil bacteria and fungi. Habitat fragmentation induced reduced patch area had no direct effect on network complexity and stability, but indirectly decreased network complexity and stability by decreasing the species richness of soil bacteria and fungi. Our findings demonstrate that habitat fragmentation not only declines soil microbial biodiversity but also simplifies and destabilizes soil microbial networks in the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China. We suggest that examining soil microbial network patterns in remnant habitats can provide valuable insights into the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation beyond biodiversity loss.

Abstract Drought stress significantly constrains plant growth and terrestrial ecosystem productivity by disrupting the synergistic interplay between carbon (C) assimilation and nitrogen (N) cycling. This review synthesizes evidence for a multi-tiered “C–N dual limitation” feedback loop under drought conditions, driven by the following key mechanistic disruptions: (1) impaired photosynthetic C assimilation due to combined stomatal and non-stomatal limitations; (2) suppressed soil N mineralization and reduced root N uptake; (3) drought-driven shifts in microbial community structure that weaken organic N mobilization and mycorrhizal nutrient transport; and (4) a metabolic trade-off in energy allocation, whereby ATP and NADPH are diverted from growth to antioxidant defense. To unravel the complexity of this C–N imbalance, we address three pivotal issues: (1) to dissect the interactive regulation of physiological, metabolic, and molecular processes that reinforce the feedback loop; (2) to contrast the C–N coordination strategies across C3, C4, and CAM plants, linking these differences to divergent drought resilience; (3) to evaluate pathways to mitigate this limitation, ranging from the targeting of key regulatory hubs such as TOR/SnRK1 and ABA-ROS signaling, to leveraging of rhizosphere microbial ecology, and to discuss their integration into predictive models. By integrating current insights, this review presents a coherent framework for understanding plant drought resistance and proposes actionable strategies for sustainable ecosystem management in a changing climate.

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms governing plant community assembly is crucial for developing effective vegetation restoration and management strategies. However, studies examining plant community assembly during the restoration of severely degraded alpine meadows remain limited. In this study, we investigated the processes shaping plant community structure and the associated environmental drivers during the early stages of restoration in severely degraded alpine meadows. Our results showed that differences in plant community composition between mixed sowing and control treatments increased over time. Additionally, both species richness and the dominance of forb species originating from the soil seed bank progressively declined. Across all mixed sowing treatments, plant community assembly showed stochastic assembly patterns, with homogeneous dispersal increasing and ecological drift decreasing annually. By the third year of restoration, heterogeneous selection was more pronounced in the grass + legume mixture than in the grass-only and grass + legume + sedge mixture treatments. Further analyses identified under-canopy photosynthetically active radiation intensity and soil available phosphorus as the key environmental drivers of plant community composition. Therefore, we infer that the stochastic assembly observed after mixed sowing arises from the counterbalancing effects of environmental filtering and niche differentiation. This study highlights that reducing soil nutrient availability to limit the dominance of upper-layer plant communities is crucial for maintaining plant species diversity during the early stages of alpine meadow restoration. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights for improving vegetation restoration strategies in degraded alpine grasslands.

Abstract Tree planting has been widely implemented worldwide to restore forest area and ecosystem services. While China has become the world’s largest country in terms of planted tree area, it remains unclear whether these tree plantations approximate the close-to-nature 3D structures that are critical for supporting ecosystem services. Using Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) data, in combination with linear mixed model analysis, this study for the first time provides a national-scale assessment of the difference in 3D structure between natural forests and tree plantations in China. We found that natural forests outperform tree plantations in canopy height (ΔRH98 = 0.58 m), foliage height diversity (ΔFHD = 0.06), plant area index (ΔPAI = 0.22), and canopy cover (ΔCover = 0.04). These differences vary across vegetation regions, with the largest ΔRH98, ΔPAI and ΔCover in the Warm Temperate Deciduous Broadleaf Forest Region, whereas the largest ΔFHD was found in the Cold Temperate Coniferous Forest Region. Linear mixed modeling further revealed that ΔPAI and ΔCover decreased under more favorable hydrothermal conditions. Our study revealed structural differences between China’s natural forests and tree plantations, highlighting the importance of selecting suitable sites with favorable environmental conditions for tree plantations and promoting close-to-nature management practice to support their ecosystem services.

Abstract Mycorrhizal symbioses are critical for plant population and community dynamics, yet their role in mediating plant geographic spread under increasing anthropogenic pressure remains poorly understood. Here, we compiled geographic distribution and mycorrhizal information for 8,791 vascular plant species across China, and investigated how plant mycorrhizal strategies interact with human footprint to shape the extent to which species fill their potential ranges across species and space. We found that anthropogenic activities significantly affected range filling of arbuscular mycorrhizal plants, disproportionately reducing range filling of narrow-ranged species while benefiting widespread species. Conversely, range filling of ectomycorrhizal plants was primarily associated with abiotic environments. Our results suggest that mycorrhizal symbioses play a critical role in mediating plant responses to anthropogenic pressures across broad geographic scales and highlight the need to integrate plant-mycorrhizal interactions to predict biodiversity shifts in a changing environment.

Abstract Plants recruit beneficial microbes to support growth and defense, but how exogenous inoculants interact with native microbiomes to influence plant performance remains unclear. We found that Bacillus thuringiensis NL-11 promoted the enrichment of indigenous taxa, including 45 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs). From a non-redundant isolate collection, we linked enriched ASVs to isolates (based on 16S rRNA identity) to build a 12-member SynCom (SynCom12), and adding B. thuringiensis NL-11 produced BSynCom12 to test the growth effects. Neither SynCom12 nor BSynCom12 exceeded the growth promotion of B. thuringiensis NL-11 alone. Therefore, we designed a simplified synthetic community, SynComC, which consists of two strains (NJ158 and NJ63) with strong rhizosphere colonization capabilities and high abundance with the help of NL-11, and whose growth-promoting ability exceeds that of SynCom12 and BSynCom12. Moreover, co-inoculation of B. thuringiensis NL-11 with SynComC yielded the highest stability in bacterial co-occurrence networks. Community assembly analyses further showed that NL-11 alone increased deterministic assembly, whereas NL-11/SynComC co-inoculation restored stochastic dominance. Metagenomics revealed an enrichment of plant hormone signaling, plant-pathogen interactions, MAPK signaling, and isoflavonoid biosynthesis in the inoculated groups (NL-11, SynComC, and BSynComC). Our SynCom assembly strategy, guided by colonization capacity and co-inoculation with native partners, effectively promotes plant growth and informs rational design of synthetic communities.

Abstract Livestock grazing can alter plant productivity and diversity through defoliation, trampling and excretion. To isolate effects of defoliation, researchers commonly employ clipping experiments, although these effects of defoliation can vary considerably depending on the intensity and duration of grazing, as well as the type of ecosystem. Here, we compiled data from 1006 pairs of observations across 96 studies to assess the impacts of simulated livestock defoliation on various measures of plant diversity (including evenness) and productivity in China’s grasslands. Overall, simulated livestock defoliation resulted in greater species richness and evenness, along with elevated aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and belowground biomass (BGB), but lower aboveground biomass (AGB). Moderate levels of defoliation produced a stronger positive response in diversity compared to light or heavy defoliation, similar to later-season defoliation. Such effects were absent in alpine meadows, which leading to a negative association between responses of diversity and elevation. AGB was reduced by defoliation in all contexts, while BGB increased more when defoliation was light, later in the season, and with shorter experimental durations; these effects were stronger in drier areas. Simulated grazing’s effects on ANPP switched from positive to negative as intensity increased. Changes in diversity were positively correlated with changes in ANPP in response to defoliation. These findings highlight that the effects of defoliation are context-specific in China’s grasslands, with important implications for grassland management and conservation.

Abstract In eastern North America, cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana) is a widely distributed perennial forest herb that has been used as an ecological indicator of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginiana) browsing due to its predictable responses to deer exclusion (i.e., increased height, abundance). However, cucumber-root is less likely to occupy sites with high concentrations of soil manganese (Mn), which may limit its utility as an indicator under limiting soil conditions. We examined responses of cucumber-root total counts and flowering abundance to deer exclusion, competitive release from surrounding vegetation, and soil application of dolomitic limestone to determine the relative effects of these treatments over 7 years (2014–2021). Prior to treatment, initial total and flowering abundance were best explained by soil extractable Mn concentration. Post-treatment, fencing best explained increases in total counts, but flowering abundance was most affected by soil extractable Mn and pH. Initial soil Mn concentrations determined the effectiveness of dolomitic limestone application; microplots with moderate to high soil Mn (> 6 cmolc kg–1) had increased flowering with increased pH, while flowering decreased on microplots with initially low soil Mn concentrations (< 6 cmolc kg–1). We suspect changes to soil chemistry from liming affected plant stress, but that stress was either alleviated or intensified depending on initial soil Mn concentrations. Herbivory is an important driver of plant abundance across our study area but flowering response, a critical component of plant demography, seems to be driven by soil Mn. Cucumber-root may have limited utility as an indicator because soil chemistry mediates flowering responses to deer exclusion.