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Background and aims <p>Afforestation is a widely adopted strategy for restoring degraded dryland ecosystems; however, the temporal dynamics of belowground microbial communities and their functional implications remain insufficiently understood.</p> Methods <p>We investigated soil fungal communities along a chronosequence of poplar plantations (young: 5–10&#xa0;yr; mid-aged: 15–20&#xa0;yr; mature: 25–40&#xa0;yr) established on formerly grasslands in northern China.</p> Results <p>Fungal α diversity increased by 32% with stand development and was accompanied by pronounced compositional shifts: Basidiomycota and Mucoromycota increased significantly, whereas Chytridiomycota declined by 95.23%. The abundance of saprotrophic fungi increased markedly with stand age, reaching levels 7.5-fold higher in mature stands than in young stands. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that fungal communities became increasingly integrated and interconnected along the chronosequence, indicating a shift toward saprotroph-dominated communities and progressively stronger deterministic assembly. Although stochastic processes remained dominant overall, the influence of deterministic selection increased with stand age. Random forest analysis identified fungal richness (Sobs) as the primary predictor of soil multifunctionality, with additional contributions from phylogenetic diversity, β-diversity, and stand age.</p> Conclusion <p>These findings demonstrate that long-term stand development in poplar plantations drives a progressive reorganization of soil fungal communities toward more integrated and saprotroph-dominated structures, accompanied by stronger deterministic assembly. Maintaining fungal diversity and community integration is therefore critical for promoting and sustaining soil multifunctionality in degraded dryland ecosystems.</p>

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Stand development drives the reassembly of soil fungal communities and soil multifunctionality in poplar plantations of northern China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月5日

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  • Hongling Yang,
  • Haifu Fang,
  • Ya Hu,
  • Hailing Li,
  • Xiangwen Gong,
  • Yulin Li,
  • Xiaoan Zuo

摘要

Background and aims

Afforestation is a widely adopted strategy for restoring degraded dryland ecosystems; however, the temporal dynamics of belowground microbial communities and their functional implications remain insufficiently understood.

Methods

We investigated soil fungal communities along a chronosequence of poplar plantations (young: 5–10 yr; mid-aged: 15–20 yr; mature: 25–40 yr) established on formerly grasslands in northern China.

Results

Fungal α diversity increased by 32% with stand development and was accompanied by pronounced compositional shifts: Basidiomycota and Mucoromycota increased significantly, whereas Chytridiomycota declined by 95.23%. The abundance of saprotrophic fungi increased markedly with stand age, reaching levels 7.5-fold higher in mature stands than in young stands. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that fungal communities became increasingly integrated and interconnected along the chronosequence, indicating a shift toward saprotroph-dominated communities and progressively stronger deterministic assembly. Although stochastic processes remained dominant overall, the influence of deterministic selection increased with stand age. Random forest analysis identified fungal richness (Sobs) as the primary predictor of soil multifunctionality, with additional contributions from phylogenetic diversity, β-diversity, and stand age.

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate that long-term stand development in poplar plantations drives a progressive reorganization of soil fungal communities toward more integrated and saprotroph-dominated structures, accompanied by stronger deterministic assembly. Maintaining fungal diversity and community integration is therefore critical for promoting and sustaining soil multifunctionality in degraded dryland ecosystems.