Studies have determined that soil biota have distinct responses to plant richness. However, the potential mechanisms that regulate soil biota (microbes and fauna) attributes (biomass, activity, and abundance) to plant mixtures over experimental time are still unclear. By conducting 1594 paired observations of the impacts of plant mixture on soil biota attributes and its corresponding potential drivers from 179 studies, we found that plant above- and belowground biomass and total biomass were significantly increased by 35.0%, 52.9%, and 48.6% under plant mixture, respectively. Soil pH decreased significantly by 0.8% with experimental time. The responses of soil microbial attributes were more sensitive than soil fauna abundances under plant mixture over time. On average, soil microbial respiration and microbial biomass increased by 11.6% and 12.1%, respectively, in plant mixtures across all ecosystem types. For soil fauna community, only the abundance of herbivores showed a significant increase of 20.4% to plant mixtures. The response of above- and belowground biomass, total biomass, the ratio of carbon to nitrogen, and pH showed positive relationships with most specific microbial attributes, while mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, and the response of soil total nitrogen and NO3–-N showed negative relationships with them in response to plant mixtures. The abundance of soil fauna was secondarily affected by the changes of soil abiotic properties. Taken together, the response of soil total carbon had a strong effect on soil biota attributes. Changes in belowground biomass and total biomass showed negative relationships with specific soil fauna abundance, while soil total carbon, nitrogen, pH, and soil moisture showed positive relationships with specific soil fauna abundance. However, only herbivore abundance showed significant differences across different ecosystems. Our analysis illustrates the distinct responses of soil biota attributes to plant mixtures and their potential influencing factors, thereby benefiting the sustainability of soil biota biodiversity in the face of plant richness loss.

中文翻译：

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土壤全碳作为影响植物混合物中土壤生物群属性的关键因素：荟萃分析


研究已经确定，土壤生物群对植物丰富度有不同的反应。然而，在实验时间内调节土壤生物群（微生物和动物群）属性（生物量、活性和丰度）对植物混合物的潜在机制仍不清楚。通过对 179 项研究中植物混合对土壤生物群属性的影响及其相应的潜在驱动因素进行 1594 次配对观察，我们发现在植物混合下，植物地上和地下生物量和总生物量分别显著增加了 35.0%、52.9% 和 48.6%。随着实验时间的流逝，土壤 pH 值显著降低了 0.8%。随着时间的推移，在植物混合作用下，土壤微生物属性的响应比土壤动物群的丰度更敏感。平均而言，所有生态系统类型的植物混合物中的土壤微生物呼吸和微生物生物量分别增加了 11.6% 和 12.1%。对于土壤动物群落，只有食草动物的丰度显示出植物混合物的显着增加 20.4%。地上和地下生物量、总生物量、碳氮比和 pH 值的响应与最特定的微生物属性呈正相关，而年平均降水量、年平均温度以及土壤全氮和 NO3–-N 的响应与它们对植物混合物的响应呈负相关。土壤动物群的丰度次于土壤非生物性质变化的影响。综上所述，土壤全碳响应对土壤生物群属性有很强的影响。 地下生物量和总生物量的变化与特定土壤动物群落丰度呈负相关关系，而土壤总碳、氮、pH 值和土壤水分与特定土壤动物群落丰度呈正相关。然而，只有食草动物的丰度在不同生态系统中表现出显着差异。我们的分析说明了土壤生物群属性对植物混合物及其潜在影响因素的不同响应，从而在植物丰富度丧失的情况下有利于土壤生物群生物多样性的可持续性。