Community composition, not diversity, governs soil multifunctionality along an ant-nesting gradient in a revegetated desert biocrust system

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This article has been updated. A Correction to this article was published on .

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The Original Article was published on

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The Original Article was published on

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This article was retracted on

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This article has been updated

Abstract

Biological soil crusts sustain carbon and nitrogen cycling across dryland surfaces, yet whether their soil multifunctionality is governed by microbial diversity or community composition remains unresolved, and how animal-driven disturbance alters this relationship is poorly known. We examined ant nesting as a natural disturbance gradient across five microhabitats in a revegetation area of the Tengger Desert, from ant hill soil to intact control biocrust. Bacterial and eukaryotic communities were characterized by paired 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing and related to a soil multifunctionality index and cumulative CO₂ and N₂O fluxes. Ant nesting restructured community composition most strongly through the photoautotrophic base: cyanobacteria declined from 12.96% in control biocrust to 1.17% in ant hill soil, and oligotrophic actinobacteria were enriched in the disturbed microhabitats. Bacterial and eukaryotic diversity, in contrast, responded asymmetrically and did not follow the gradient. Soil multifunctionality increased monotonically from ant hill soil to control biocrust, and cumulative N₂O flux peaked at both ends of the gradient. Cumulative CO₂ efflux increased steeply with cyanobacterial abundance (r = 0.99), whereas multifunctionality and CO₂ efflux both declined with bacterial diversity (r = −0.89 and −0.95). All co-occurrence network hub genera were bacterial, and labile carbon was coupled to the bacterial community alone, indicating a bacteria-anchored community-function coupling. In this revegetated desert system, soil multifunctionality followed the composition of the photoautotrophic base rather than community diversity. Ant nesting lowered function by dismantling that base.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

ant nesting / biological soil crust / soil multifunctionality / community composition / cyanobacteria

Highlight

	● Ant nesting depleted cyanobacteria, the photoautotrophic base of desert biocrusts.
	● Soil multifunctionality increased from ant hill soil to undisturbed control biocrust.
	● Community composition, not diversity, tracked soil multifunctionality and CO2 efflux.
	● CO2 efflux rose steeply with cyanobacterial abundance across the five microhabitats.
	● All network hub genera were bacterial, anchoring the community–function coupling.

CHANGE HISTORY

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