J Integr Plant Biol

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  • 收稿日期:2025-01-18 接受日期:2025-06-09

Long-term climate warming and nitrogen deposition increase leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial diversity

Lu Bai1, Yunzhuo Wen1, Guodong Han1, Jinglei Tang1, Zhuwen Xu2, Zhongwu Wang1, Lin Jiang3*and Haiyan Ren1*   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Forage Cultivation, Processing and High Efficient Utilization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Grassland Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010011, China

    2. Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China

    3. School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

    *Correspondences: Lin Jiang (lin.jiang@biology.gatech.edu); Haiyan Ren (renhy@imau.edu.cn, Dr. Ren is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article)

  • Received:2025-01-18 Accepted:2025-06-09
  • Supported by:
    This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF1302300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32260301), Distinguished Young Scholars Program of Inner Mongolia (2023JQ09, BR230301), Program for Innovative Research Team in Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (NMGIRT2403), and First‐Class Discipline Research Program (YLXKZX‐NND‐002).

Abstract: Plant microbiome plays a vital role in plant fitness and ecosystem functioning, yet its response to global environmental change remains poorly understood. Using an 18-year field experiment, we investigated the effects of climate warming and nitrogen deposition on the diversity of leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial communities in two dominant plant species (Stipa breviflora and Cleistogenes songorica) of a temperate desert steppe. We found that warming and nitrogen addition increased both epiphytic and endophytic bacterial diversity, but via different mechanisms. Specifically, epiphytic diversity increased with leaf temperature and transpiration rate, whereas greater endophyte diversity was linked to higher leaf carbon and nitrogen concentrations. Structural equation modeling revealed that both epiphytic and endophytic diversity were negatively associated with plant diversity. Our results demonstrate different mechanisms driving similar responses of leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial diversity to global change, and point to a negative feedback loop between phyllosphere bacterial and plant diversity.

Key words: bacterial abundance, bacterial diversity, climate change, functional traits, nitrogen deposition, phyllosphere, plant diversity

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