Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Pei Zhang, Shuangdan Chen, Yi Ai, Yonghong Wang, Dehui Xi, Liming Tian, Tserang Donko Mipam
Summary: Livestock grazing has a significant impact on the belowground community in grasslands. Moderate grazing can maintain the diversity and functionality of soil nematodes, optimize soil nutrient cycling, and the response of the nematode community has a hump-shaped pattern to grazing intensity.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ling Han, Hasbagan Ganjurjav, Guozheng Hu, Jianshuang Wu, Yulong Yan, Luobu Danjiu, Shicheng He, Wendong Xie, Jun Yan, Qingzhu Gao
Summary: The study shows that plant community assembly plays a critical role in regulating the ecosystem carbon exchange response to nitrogen deposition in alpine meadows. Nitrogen deposition can enhance the uptake and release of carbon dioxide in the ecosystem, and this effect is closely related to plant biomass and soil nitrogen content.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Yanwen Qi, Xinhang Sun, Sichen Peng, Xiaodan Tan, Shurong Zhou
Summary: This study investigated the response mechanism of soil nematode communities to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer. The results showed that nitrogen fertilizer increased the abundance and richness of bacterivorous nematodes, while phosphorus fertilizer decreased the total abundance of bacterivorous nematodes. Additionally, the diversity of the nematode community was significantly affected by soil physicochemical properties and plant root functional traits.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yi-Wei Zhang, Tiejun Wang, Yanpei Guo, Andrew Skidmore, Zhenhua Zhang, Rong Tang, Shanshan Song, Zhiyao Tang
Summary: This study compares the performance of four non-parametric regression models in estimating plant community traits using UAV-based hyperspectral imaging. The results show that visible and near-infrared hyperspectral imaging can accurately estimate multiple plant community traits.
Article
Soil Science
Dorota L. Porazinska, Clifton P. Bueno de Mesquita, Emily C. Farrer, Marko J. Spasojevic, Katharine N. Suding, Steven K. Schmidt
Summary: Climate warming drives shifts in nematode communities at Niwot Ridge in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, with changes in plant cover influencing the diversity and density of nematodes. These shifts are associated with changes in soil carbon and nitrogen levels.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Weilong Liu, Yonglei Jiang, Genxu Wang, Yan Su, Joseph M. Smoak, Meiyu Liu, Baoli Duan
Summary: This study evaluated the separate and combined effects of clipping and N addition on soil properties, soil microbial community structure, and soil extracellular enzyme activity. Results showed that moderate clipping increased root exudation rates, while heavy clipping decreased various soil parameters. N addition had mostly neutral or negative effects, stimulating changes in soil microbial community structure under moderate clipping.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yingxin Wang, Zhe Wu, Zhaofeng Wang, Shenghua Chang, Yongqiang Qian, Jianmin Chu, Zhiqing Jia, Qingping Zhou, Fujiang Hou
Summary: This study quantified the succession sequence of alpine meadow induced by grazing and found that it starts from tall sedge community to short undesirable toxic forbs community. The ecosystem coupling and multifunctionality change during succession, with toxic plants playing an important role in the late stage of degraded meadow. The findings provide guidance for the management and restoration of alpine meadow.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Zhenrong Lin, Lina Shi, Xiaoting Wei, Bing Han, Cuoji Peng, Zeying Yao, Qing Xiao, Xinmin Lu, Yanfang Deng, Huakun Zhou, Kesi Liu, Xinqing Shao
Summary: The addition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to alpine meadow ecosystems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has negative effects on soil bacterial community richness and diversity. N addition directly affects soil NH4+-N and decreases plant diversity. Both N and P additions decrease soil bacterial community diversity, which is independent of plant diversity. The composition of soil bacterial community is influenced by nutrient additions and correlated with soil properties.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
She Yandi, Ma Tao, Zhou Huakun, Li Honglin, Zhang Zhonghua, Ma Li, Qin Ruimin, Su Hongye, Chang Tao, Wei Jingjing, Hu Xue
Summary: This study investigated the patterns of plant-soil feedback in alpine meadows and found significant differences in ecosystem multifunctionality, biotic and abiotic factors during degradation and recovery stages. With increasing degradation, the negative feedback effect became more prominent, while the positive feedback effect weakened with increasing recovery years.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Masoud M. Ardestani, Ondrej Mudrak, Jakub Vicena, Daquan Sun, Hana Vesela, Jan Frouz
Summary: Soil properties and soil microbial communities have a significant impact on plant communities, especially in disturbed ecosystems. The study found that the preserved meadow microbial inoculum had a positive effect on the biomass of certain meadow specialist plants, while the restored meadow inoculum had a negative effect. These findings have important implications for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Guohui Ye, Bin Chu, Zhuangsheng Tang, Guixin Hu, Daerhan Bao, Rui Hua, Martin Pfeiffer, Limin Hua, Yujie Niu
Summary: Soils in alpine areas of the Tibetan Plateau harbor diverse microbial and macroinvertebrate communities, which play key roles in ecosystem functioning. In this study, we examined the effects of disturbance by plateau zokor rodents on the functional diversity of soil microbial and macroinvertebrate communities. We found that zokor disturbance led to decreased plant biomass and soil organic carbon, but increased the functional diversity of soil microbes and macroinvertebrates. The environmental factors that most influenced functional diversity were soil moisture, temperature, compaction, plant species richness, and belowground biomass of forb. Our findings suggest that environmental changes have a stronger influence on microbial functional diversity compared to macroinvertebrates.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chimin Lai, Chengyang Li, Fei Peng, Xian Xue, Quangang You, Wenjuan Zhang, Shaoxiu Ma
Summary: It was found that the surface soil organic carbon of alpine meadows gradually decreased with land degradation, and changes in plant communities led to alterations in soil organic carbon quality, affecting the loss of soil carbon. Overall, the study suggests that changes in heterotrophic respiration moderated by soil carbon quality alteration due to plant community shifting could be one mechanism for soil carbon loss before moderate degradation, but not the main pathway for soil organic carbon loss at severe and very severe degradation levels.
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zeng Cui, Wen-Shan Yang, Zhen Cheng, Zhenchao Zhang, Shixiong Li, Jingxue Zhao, Manuel Lopez-Vicente, Gao-Lin Wu
Summary: Glacial melting can cause alpine gravelization, which in turn leads to degradation of downstream vegetation. This study examines the effects of gravel cover on alpine meadow ecosystem, focusing on community characteristics, soil moisture, and temperature. Results show that gravel cover decreases soil/gravel ratio, topsoil moisture, and various ecological parameters such as above-ground biomass, species richness, community density, and species composition. These findings provide new insights into the impact of alpine gravelization on soil water environment and alpine meadow degradation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ziyang Liu, Richard Michalet, Chenyue Wang, Yajun Wang, Jingwei Chen, Hanwen Cui, Hongxian Song, Jiajia Wang, Zi Yang, Lizhe An, Sa Xiao, Shuyan Chen
Summary: In alpine systems, cushion plants play a crucial role in modifying local environmental conditions. Different phenotypes of alpine cushion species have varying effects on understory plant species, either promoting or inhibiting their growth. Moreover, dependent species within each community type exhibit divergent responses to different cushion phenotypes, which can be categorized into specific response groups. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated the responses of dependent communities at the species-group level, particularly for both above-ground and below-ground communities.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Shan Luo, Richard D. Bardgett, Bernhard Schmid, David Johnson, Kenny Png, Urs Schaffner, Huakun Zhou, Buqing Yao, Xiangyang Hou, Nicholas J. Ostle
Summary: Studies have shown that historical context can alter plant diversity-community productivity relationships through plant species interactions. Understanding the importance of historical context is crucial for comprehending the long-term impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystem functioning.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Anjana Sasidharan, Wail M. Hassan, Christopher J. Harrison, Ferdaus Hassan, Rangaraj Selvarangan
OPEN FORUM INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jiayang Zhang, Junyong Li, Rui Xiao, Jiajia Zhang, Dong Wang, Renhui Miao, Hongquan Song, Yinzhan Liu, Zhongling Yang, Mengzhou Liu
Summary: The productivity of grasslands and its sensitivity to changes in precipitation depend on both the magnitude and direction of precipitation change. These findings are important for the future management of grasslands under different precipitation scenarios.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Chunhui Zhang, Junyong Li, Charles G. Willis, Zhen Ma
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zhongling Yang, Yueyue Wei, Guangya Fu, Rui Xiao, Ji Chen, Yaojun Zhang, Dong Wang, Junyong Li
Summary: The study demonstrated that drought in the late growing season weakens the ecosystem carbon sink in semi-arid grasslands, while a decrease in precipitation during the early growing season did not significantly reduce the overall rate of ecosystem carbon exchange. Therefore, management practices to increase water availability during the late growing season should be prioritized for enhancing carbon sequestration.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Han Chen, Shuaiwei Luo, Guixin Li, Wanyanhan Jiang, Wei Qi, Jing Hu, Miaojun Ma, Guozhen Du
Summary: The study found that the species richness and abundance of soil nematodes on the Tibetan Plateau are relatively low, primarily influenced by soil factors, while plant factors are equally essential in alpine steppes. Climate variables have little impact on nematode communities.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Wen Li, Yifei Shi, Dandan Zhu, Wenqian Wang, Haowei Liu, Junyong Li, Nannan Shi, Lei Ma, Shenglei Fu
Summary: Global nitrogen deposition has had significant impacts on the production and morphology of fine roots in forests, affecting the distribution of carbon. The study found that the N treatment approach and sampling time significantly influenced fine root biomass and morphology. Canopy N addition increased fine root biomass, while understory N addition may decrease it, with fine root biomass being most affected by NH4-N and NO3-N in July. Different N treatment approaches led to varying results, with the effects of understory N addition on fine root biomass potentially being overestimated compared to canopy N addition.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wanyanhan Jiang, Han Chen, Lian Yang, Xiaoqi Pan
Summary: When comparing means of different groups, it is necessary to explore and compare data for influencing factors or relative indices. This can be a complex and challenging process, especially for users who lack statistical knowledge and coding experience. To address this issue, we developed moreThanANOVA, an interactive, user-friendly, open-source, and cloud-based application that automates distribution tests and correlative significance tests, allowing users to customize post-hoc analysis based on their considerations.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mashael A. Alghamdi, Laila Al-Ayadhi, Wail M. Hassan, Ramesa Shafi Bhat, Mona A. Alonazi, Afaf El-Ansary
Summary: Neuropeptides play a major role in maintaining normal brain development in children. Dysfunction of certain neuropeptides may lead to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study investigated the effects of bee pollen and probiotics on neuropeptide levels in the brain using an animal model of autism. The results showed that bee pollen and probiotics can ameliorate the reduced neuropeptide levels caused by PPA treatment in the autism model.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hanan A. Alfawaz, Afaf El-Ansary, Laila Al-Ayadhi, Ramesa Shafi Bhat, Wail M. Hassan
Summary: Bee pollen supplementation demonstrates protective potency against autism by alleviating oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and glutamate excitotoxicity, and improving neurochemical markers.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Guixin Li, Rutger A. A. Wilschut, Shuaiwei Luo, Han Chen, Xiangtai Wang, Guozhen Du, Stefan Geisen
Summary: Aboveground, large and higher trophic-level organisms often respond more strongly to environmental changes than small and lower trophic-level organisms. However, whether this trophic or size-dependent sensitivity also applies to the most abundant animals, microscopic soil-borne nematodes, remains largely unknown. Here, we sampled an altitudinal transect across the Tibetan Plateau and applied a community-weighted mean (CWM) approach to test how differences in climatic and edaphic properties affect nematode CWM biomass at the level of community, trophic group and taxon mean biomass within trophic groups. We found that climatic and edaphic properties, particularly soil water-related properties, positively affected nematode CWM biomass, with no overall impact of altitude on nematode CWM biomass. Higher trophic-level omnivorous and predatory nematodes responded more strongly to climatic and edaphic properties, particularly to temperature, soil pH, and soil water content than lower trophic-level bacterivorous and fungivorous nematodes. However, these differences were likely not (only) driven by size, as we did not observe significant interactions between climatic and edaphic properties and mean biomasses within trophic groups. Together, our research implies a stronger, size-independent trophic sensitivity of higher trophic-level nematodes compared with lower trophic-level ones. Therefore, our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying nematode body size structure in alpine grasslands and highlight that traits independent of size need to be found to explain increased sensitivity of higher trophic-level nematodes to climatic and edaphic properties, which might affect soil functioning.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wail M. Hassan, Nashwa Othman, Maha Daghestani, Arjumand Warsy, Maha A. Omair, Eman Alqurtas, Shireen Amin, Abdulaziz Ismail, Afaf El-Ansary, Ramesa Shafi Bhat, Mohammed A. Omair
Summary: This study aimed to explore the role of cytokines in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). By analyzing the levels of cytokines in the serum, we found that multiple cytokine profiles were able to successfully distinguish RA patients from healthy controls. Additionally, the use of gender-specific models may have some benefits in clinical diagnosis.
Article
Ecology
Lina Zhao, Binbin Yu, Mengmeng Wang, Jie Zhang, Zhifeng Shen, Yang Cui, Junyong Li, Ji Ye, Weizhong Zu, Xiaojing Liu, Zongji Fan, Shenglei Fu, Yuanhu Shao
Summary: The study shows that plant resource inputs have significant impacts on nematode energy flux and community composition in forests at different latitudes. Specifically, litter reduction decreased energy flux of bacterial-feeding nematodes, while root removal reduced energy flux of plant-feeding nematodes. These findings suggest that plant-soil interactions are influenced by climate and plant resource type.
SOIL ECOLOGY LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Anna K. Curtis, Christian Lamb, Wail M. Hassan, John Foxworth
CUREUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Ranyah Shaker M. Labban, Hanan Alfawaz, Ahmed T. Almnaizel, Wail M. Hassan, Ramesa Shafi Bhat, Nadine M. S. Moubayed, Geir Bjorklund, Afaf El-Ansary
TRANSLATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Ranyah Shaker M. Labban, Hanan Alfawaz, Ahmed T. Almnaizel, Wail M. Hassan, Ramesa Shafi Bhat, Nadine M. S. Moubayed, Geir Bjorklund, Afaf El-Ansary
TRANSLATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
