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Background and Aims <p>Grassland degradation leads to biodiversity loss and shifts in soil microbial communities, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. This study aimed to identify how changes in plant and soil microbial communities influence plant diseases in degraded grasslands.</p> Methods <p>A 2-year field study of plant communities across the Tibetan Plateau was conducted to examine how grassland degradation influences disease severity. Soil microbial communities were characterized by amplicon sequencing. The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of fungi and the V1–V9 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene were amplified. This observational study explored potential associations among&#xa0;vegetation characteristics, soil microbial communities, and foliar fungal disease severity.</p> Results <p>Disease severity increased with the degree of grassland degradation by 13.08%–59.67%. Key factors predicting disease severity included richness of plants without visible symptom, relative richness of diseased plants, Shannon and Margalef indices, relative coverage, and community-weighted mean specific leaf area (CWM SLA). Relative coverage positively correlated with the Shannon index, indirectly influencing disease severity through increased CWM SLA. <i>Nitrospira</i> and <i>Stagonosporopsis</i> abundances significantly increased in heavily degraded grassland. <i>Nitrospira</i> was a potential driver of the increasing CWM SLA in degraded grasslands, and <i>Stagonosporopsis</i> caused disease by infecting plants with high SLA in degraded grasslands.</p> Conclusions <p>Disease severity in degraded grasslands is potentially mediated by the increase in the proportion of diseased plants in plant communities and promotion of the accumulation of pathogens and nitrifiers in the soil. This study indicates that plant–microbe linkages drive the severity of disease in degraded grasslands.</p>

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Plant community assembly and soil microbe synergy: dual drivers of the escalation of disease severity in degraded grasslands

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月17日

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  • Tingting Ding,
  • Rui Zhang,
  • Tingyu Duan,
  • Chunjie Li

摘要

Background and Aims

Grassland degradation leads to biodiversity loss and shifts in soil microbial communities, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. This study aimed to identify how changes in plant and soil microbial communities influence plant diseases in degraded grasslands.

Methods

A 2-year field study of plant communities across the Tibetan Plateau was conducted to examine how grassland degradation influences disease severity. Soil microbial communities were characterized by amplicon sequencing. The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of fungi and the V1–V9 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene were amplified. This observational study explored potential associations among vegetation characteristics, soil microbial communities, and foliar fungal disease severity.

Results

Disease severity increased with the degree of grassland degradation by 13.08%–59.67%. Key factors predicting disease severity included richness of plants without visible symptom, relative richness of diseased plants, Shannon and Margalef indices, relative coverage, and community-weighted mean specific leaf area (CWM SLA). Relative coverage positively correlated with the Shannon index, indirectly influencing disease severity through increased CWM SLA. Nitrospira and Stagonosporopsis abundances significantly increased in heavily degraded grassland. Nitrospira was a potential driver of the increasing CWM SLA in degraded grasslands, and Stagonosporopsis caused disease by infecting plants with high SLA in degraded grasslands.

Conclusions

Disease severity in degraded grasslands is potentially mediated by the increase in the proportion of diseased plants in plant communities and promotion of the accumulation of pathogens and nitrifiers in the soil. This study indicates that plant–microbe linkages drive the severity of disease in degraded grasslands.