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Understanding the soil biogeochemical responses to increasing global warming in the near future is essential for improving our capacity to mitigate the impacts of climate change on highly vulnerable Mediterranean ecosystems. Previous studies have primarily focused on the effects of warming on various biogeochemical processes. However, there is limited knowledge about how the changes in water availability associated to high temperatures can alter the bioavailability and dynamics of soil elements, thereby impacting ecosystem productivity, species composition, and pollution through soil biogeochemical and hydrological processes. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term nighttime warming on the extractable concentrations of organic carbon (EOC), total nitrogen (ETN), total phosphorus (ETP), and 17 mineral elements (arsenic (As), calcium (Ca), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), sulfur (S), strontium (Sr), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn)) through environmental experiments in a semi-arid Mediterranean shrubland. We explored the potential biotic and abiotic mechanisms underlying the seasonal and long-term changes in extractable-mobilizable elemental composition and concentrations. Our findings revealed that prolonged warming led to higher mean annual soil temperature (with an average increase of 0.67 °C from 1999 to 2014), accumulation of soil organic matter (EOC) and extractable concentrations of soil elements (particularly increased ETP and extractable Ca, Mg, Cu, Sr, Mn, and As). These changes were attributed to uniformly higher activities of extracellular soil enzymes and/or lower plant photosynthetic and nutrient uptake capacity linked to more water deficit under warmer conditions. Seasonality unevenly altered element extractable concentrations, with soil microclimate (temperature and water content) and biological (soil microbial and plant) activity being the main drivers of this variability, thus influencing soil element composition. These results suggest significant fluctuations in the extractable concentrations of specific mineral elements in these soils, implying potential future variations in soil element composition as well as the loss of total element concentrations/contents in semi-arid Mediterranean ecosystems due to increasing warming. Therefore, these findings enhance our ability to predict ecosystem management strategies and mitigate the observed negative impacts on plant-soil systems and water quality in the context of climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Soil salinization adversely affects soil fertility and plant growth in arid region worldwide. However, as the drivers of nutrient cycling, the response of microbial communities to soil salinization is poorly understood. This study characterized bacterial communities in different soil layers along a natural salinity gradient in the Karayulgun River Basin, located northwest of the Taklimakan desert in China, using the 16S rRNA Miseq-sequencing technique. The results revealed a significant filtering effect of salinity on the bacterial community in the topsoil. Only the α-diversity (Shannon index) in the topsoil (0-10 cm) significantly decreased with increasing salinity levels, and community dissimilarity in the topsoil was enhanced with increasing salinity, while there was no significant relationship in the subsoil. BugBase predictions revealed that aerobic, facultatively anaerobic, gram-positive, and stress-tolerant bacterial phenotypes in the topsoil was negatively related to salinity. The average degree and number of modules of the bacterial co-occurrence network in the topsoil were lower under higher salinity levels, which contrasted with the trends in the subsoil, suggesting an unstable bacterial network in the topsoil caused by higher salinity. The average path length among bacterial species increased in both soil layers under high salinity conditions. Plant diversity and available nitrogen were the main drivers affecting community composition in the topsoil, while available potassium largely shaped community composition in the subsoil. This study provides solid evidence that bacterial communities adapt to salinity through the adjustment of microbial composition based on soil depth. This information will contribute to the sustainable management of drylands and improved predictions and responses to changes in ecosystems caused by climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Wetlands, which are ecosystems with the highest soil surface carbon density, have been severely degraded and replaced by artificial reclamation for fish and shrimp ponds in recent years. This transformation is causing intricate shifts in soil carbon pools and microbial stability. In this study, we examined natural wetlands and reclaimed aquaculture ponds in Southeast China to analyze the structure and network stability of soil microbial communities following the reclamation of estuarine wetlands and to elucidate the microbial-mediated mechanisms for regulating soil organic carbon (SOC). The aquaculture ponds presented significantly less average SOC content than the natural wetlands (p < 0.05). ACE, Chao1, and Shannon's indices of bacteria and fungi were decreased in aquaculture ponds. Less numbers of nodes and edge links in the co-occurrence network of soil fungi and bacteria in aquaculture ponds. This suggests reduced correlation and stability within the microbial network of aquaculture ponds. Decomposers in soil fungi (e.g. Dung Saprotroph) reduced. Reduced proportions of key phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Rozellomycota in the soil fungal network. Reduced proportions of key phyla Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi and Desulfobacterota in the soil bacterial network. In conclusion, our results suggest that converting wetland paddocks to intensive aquaculture ponds results in carbon pool loss and reduces soil microbial network stability. The results highlight the importance of protecting or moderately restoring mangrove wetlands along the coast of southeastern China. It is also predicted that such measures may enhance the storage capacity of soil carbon pools and improve the stability of carbon sequestration by soil microorganisms, thus offering a potential solution for mitigating global climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The process and function that underlie the assembly of root-associated microbiomes may be strongly linked to the survival strategy of plants. However, the assembly and functional changes of root-associated microbial communities in different desert plants in natural desert ecosystems are still unclear. Thus, we studied the microbial communities and diversity of root endosphere (RE), rhizosphere soil (RS), and bulk soil (BS) among three representative desert plants ( Alhagi sparsifolia , Tamarix ramosissima , and Calligonum caput-medusae ) in three Xinjiang desert regions {Taklimakan (CL), Gurbantünggüt (MSW), and Kumtag (TLF)} in China. This study found that the soil properties {electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP), available nitrogen (AN) and phosphorus (AP)} of C. caput-medusae were significantly lower than those of A. sparsifolia and T. ramosissima , while the root nutrients (TN and TP) of A. sparsifolia were significantly higher compared to C. caput-medusae and T. ramosissima . The beta diversity of bacteria and fungi (RE) among the three desert plants was significantly different. The common OTU numbers of bacteria and fungi in three compartments (RE, RS, and BS) of the three desert plants were ranked as RS > BS > RE. The bacterial and fungal (RE) Shannon and Simpson indexes of C. caput-medusae were significantly lower as compared to those of A. sparsifolia and T. ramosissima . Additionally, bacterial and fungal (RE and RS) node numbers and average degree of C. caput-medusae were lower than those found in A. sparsifolia and T. ramosissima . Root and soil nutrients collectively contributed to the composition of root-associated bacterial (RE, 12.4%; RS, 10.6%; BS, 16.6%) and fungal communities (RE, 34.3%; RS, 1.5%; BS, 17.7%). These findings demonstrate variations in the bacterial and fungal populations across different plant species with distinct compartments (RE, RS, and BS) in arid environments. More importantly, the study highlights how much soil and plant nutrients contribute to root-associated microbial communities.

Coastal-wetlands play a crucial role as carbon (C) reservoirs on Earth due to their C pool composition and functional sink, making them significant for mitigating global climate change. However, due to the development and utilization of wetland resources, many wetlands have been transformed into other land-use types. The current study focuses on the alterations in soil organic-C (SOC) in coastal-wetlands following reclamation into aquaculture ponds. We conducted sampling at 11 different coastal-wetlands along the tropical to temperate regions of the China coast. Each site included two community types, one with solely native species (Suaeda salsa, Phragmites australis and Mangroves) and the other with an adjacent reclaimed aquaculture pond. Across these 11 locations we compared SOC stock, active OC fractions, and soil physicochemical properties between coastal wetlands and aquaculture ponds. We observed that different soil uses, sampling sites, and their interaction had significant effects on SOC and its stock (p < .05). Reclamation significantly declined SOC concentration at depths of 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm by 35.5% and 30.3%, respectively, and also decreased SOC stock at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depths by 29.1% and 37.9%, respectively. Similar trends were evident for SOC stock, labile organic-C, dissolved organic-C and microbial biomass organic-C concentrations (p < .05), indicating soil C-destabilization and losses from soil following conversion. Soils in aquaculture ponds exhibited higher bulk density (BD; 11.3%) and lower levels of salinity (61.0%), soil water content (SWC; 11.7%), total nitrogen (TN) concentration (23.8%) and available-nitrogen concentration (37.7%; p < .05) than coastal-wetlands. Redundancy-analysis revealed that pH, BD and TN concentration were the key variables most linked with temporal variations in SOC fractions and stock between two land use types. This study provides a theoretical basis for the rational utilization and management of wetland resources, the achievement of an environment-friendly society, and the preservation of multiple service functions within wetland ecosystems., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The Taklimakan Desert, known for extreme aridity and unique ecological challenges, maintains a delicate life balance beneath its harsh surface. This study investigates intricate dynamics of soil animal communities within this desert ecosystem, with a particular focus on vertical profile variations beneath four dominant shrub species (AS-Alhagi sparsifolia, KC-Karelinia caspia, TR- Tamarix ramosissima, CC- Calligonum caput-medusae). Utilizing comprehensive soil sampling and metagenomics techniques, we reveal the diversity and distribution patterns of soil animal communities from the soil surface down to deeper layers (0-100 cm). Our research outcomes have unveiled that Nematoda and Arthropoda emerge as the most predominant classes of soil animals across all studied shrubs. Specifically, Nematoda exhibited notably high abundance in the KC area, while Arthropoda thrived predominantly in the TR region. We also observed a linear decrease in Nematoda populations as soil depth increased, consistent among all shrub species. Moreover, the highest Shannon diversity within soil animal communities was recorded in the KC area, underscoring a trend of declining alpha diversity in the AS region and an increase in other shrub areas as soil depth increased. Notably, the zones dominated by CC and TR displayed the highest levels of beta diversity. Our correlation analysis of soil animals and environmental factors has pinpointed soil water content, available phosphorus, and available potassium as the most influential drivers of variations in the top-classified soil animal communities. This study provides insights into soil animals in deserts, supporting future research to preserve these fragile deserts and enhance our understanding of life below the surface in challenging ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) was established to address the large-scale environmental change across this region. Regardless of the increasingly insightful literature addressing vegetation change across Central Asia, the biogeophysical warming effects of vegetation shifts still need to be clarified. To contribute, the utility of robust satellite observation is explored to evaluate the surface warming effects of vegetation shifts across Central Asia, which is among NEEPSI's hotspots. We estimated an average increase of +1.9 °C in daytime local surface temperature and + 1.5 °C in the nighttime due to vegetation shift (2001-2020). Meanwhile, the mean local latent heat increased by 4.65Wm-2, following the mild reduction of emitted longwave radiation (-0.8Wm-2). We found that vegetation shifts led to local surface warming with a bright surface, noting that the average air surface temperature was revealed to have increased significantly (2001-2020). This signal was driven mainly by agricultural expansion in western Kazakhstan stretching to Tajikistan and Xinjiang, then deforestation confined in Tajikistan, southeast Kazakhstan, and the northwestern edge of Xinjiang, and finally, grassland encroachment occurred massively in the west to central Kazakhstan. These findings address the latest information on Central Asia's vegetation shifts that may be substantial in landscape change mitigation plans., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Soil water conditions are known to influence soil nutrient availability, but the specific impact of different conditions on soil phosphorus (P) availability through the modulation of P-cycling functional microbial communities in hyper-arid desert ecosystems remains largely unexplored. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a 3-year pot experiment using a typical desert plant species (Alhagi sparsifolia Shap.) subjected to two water supply levels (25 %-35 % and 65 %-75 % of maximum field capacity, MFC) and four P-supply levels (0, 1, 3, and 5 g P m -2 y -1 ). Our investigation focused on the soil Hedley-P pool and the four major microbial groups involved in the critical phases of soil microbial P-cycling. The results revealed that the drought (25 %-35 % MFC) and no P-supply treatments reduced soil resin-P and NaHCO 3 -Pi concentrations by 87.03 % and 93.22 %, respectively, compared to the well-watered (65 %-75 % MFC) and high P-supply (5 g P m -2 y -1 ) treatments. However, the P-supply treatment resulted in a 12 %-22 % decrease in the soil NH 4 + -N concentration preferred by microbes compared to the no P-supply treatment. Moreover, the abundance of genes engaged in microbial P-cycling (e.g. gcd and phoD) increased under the drought and no P-supply treatments (p < 0.05), suggesting that increased NH 4 + -N accumulation under these conditions may stimulate P-solubilizing microbes, thereby promoting the microbial community's investment in resources to enhance the P-cycling potential. Furthermore, the communities of Steroidobacter cummioxidans, Mesorhizobium alhagi, Devosia geojensis, and Ensifer sojae, associated with the major P-cycling genes, were enriched in drought and no or low-P soils. Overall, the drought and no or low-P treatments stimulated microbial communities and gene abundances involved in P-cycling. However, this increase was insufficient to maintain soil P-bioavailability. These findings shed light on the responses and feedback of microbial-mediated P-cycling behaviors in desert ecosystems under three-year drought and soil P-deficiency., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Deserts represent key carbon reservoirs, yet as these systems are threatened this has implications for biodiversity and climate change. This review focuses on how these changes affect desert ecosystems, particularly plant root systems and their impact on carbon and mineral nutrient stocks. Desert plants have diverse root architectures shaped by water acquisition strategies, affecting plant biomass and overall carbon and nutrient stocks. Climate change can disrupt desert plant communities, with droughts impacting both shallow and deep-rooted plants as groundwater levels fluctuate. Vegetation management practices, like grazing, significantly influence plant communities, soil composition, root microorganisms, biomass, and nutrient stocks. Shallow-rooted plants are particularly susceptible to climate change and human interference. To safeguard desert ecosystems, understanding root architecture and deep soil layers is crucial. Implementing strategic management practices such as reducing grazing pressure, maintaining moderate harvesting levels, and adopting moderate fertilization can help preserve plant-soil systems. Employing socio-ecological approaches for community restoration enhances carbon and nutrient retention, limits desert expansion, and reduces CO 2 emissions. This review underscores the importance of investigating belowground plant processes and their role in shaping desert landscapes, emphasizing the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of desert ecosystems., (© 2024 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Introduction: Plastic film mulching (PFM) and deficit irrigation (DI) are vital water-saving approaches in arid agriculture. Cyperus esculentus is a significant crop in dry zones. However, scant data exists on the impacts of these water-saving methods on C. esculentus yield and quality., Method: Using randomized block experiment design. Three irrigation strategies were tested: CK (standard irrigation), RW20 (20% water reduction), and RW40 (40% water reduction). Mulchin treatments included film mulching (FM) and no film mulching (NFM)., Results: Results revealed substantial effects of film mulching and drip irrigation on soil nutrients and physical properties, with minor influence on grass, root, and tuber stoichiometry. PF treatment, DI treatments, and their interaction significantly affected C. esculentus forage and tuber yields. Initially, grass and tuber yields increased and then decreased with reduced irrigation. The highest yields were under RW20 (3716.31 and 4758.19 kg/ha). FM increased grass and tuber yield by 17.99% and 8.46%, respectively, over NFM. The water reduction augmented the biomass distribuiton of the leaf and root, while reducing the tuber biomass in NFM. FM significantely impacted grass ether extract content, while reduced water influenced grass and tuber crude protein and tuber ether extract content. Mild water stress increased ether extract, crude protein, and soluble matter in grass and tubers, while excessive RW decreased them., Conclusion: Integrating soil traits, nutrients, yield, and quality, findings indicate C. esculentus yield and quality primarily hinge on soil water content, pond hydrogenase, and electrical conductivity. Based on this results, the recommended strategy is to reduce irrigation by 20% for cultivating C. esculentus in this area., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Ding, Zhang, Lu, Li, Islam and Zeng.)

Vegetation restoration in deserts is challenging due to these ecosystems' inherent fragility and harsh environmental conditions. One approach for active restoration involves planting native species, which can accelerate the recovery of ecosystem functions. To ensure the effectiveness of this process, carefully selecting species for planting is crucial. Generally, it is expected that a more diverse mix of species in the plantation will lead to the recovery of a greater number of ecosystem functions, especially when the selected species have complementary niche traits that facilitate maximum cooperation and minimize competition among them. In this study, we evaluated the planting of two native species from the hyper-desert of Taklamakan, China, which exhibit marked morpho-physiological differences: a phreatophytic legume (Alhagi sparsifolia) and a halophytic non-legume (Karelinia caspia). These species were grown in both monoculture and intercrop communities. Monoculture of the legume resulted in the highest biomass accumulation. Intercropping improved several ecosystem functions in the 50 cm-upper soil, particularly those related to phosphorus (P), carbon (C), and sulfur (S) concentrations, as well as soil enzyme activities. However, it also increased soil sodium (Na + ) concentration and pH. Halophyte monocultures enhanced ecological functions associated with nitrogen concentrations in the upper soil and with P, S, C, and cation concentrations (K + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Cu 2+ , Fe 2+ , Zn 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ ), along with enzyme activities in the deep soil. It also maximized Na + accumulation in plant biomass. In summary, we recommend legume monoculture when the primary goal is to optimize biomass accumulation. Conversely, halophyte monoculture is advisable when the objective is to extract sodium from the soil or enhance ecosystem functions in the deep soil. Intercropping the two species is recommended to maximize the ecosystem functions of the upper soil, provided there is no salinization risk. When planning restoration efforts in desert regions, it is essential to understand the impact of each species on ecosystem function and how complementary species behave when intercropped. However, these interactions are likely species- and system-specific, highlighting the need for more work to optimize solutions for different arid ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Drylands, comprising semi-arid, arid, and hyperarid regions, cover approximately 41% of the Earth's land surface and have expanded considerably in recent decades. Even under more optimistic scenarios, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2100, semi-arid lands may increase by up to 38%. This study provides an overview of the state-of-the-art regarding changing aridity in arid regions, with a specific focus on its effects on the accumulation and availability of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in plant-soil systems. Additionally, we summarized the impacts of rising aridity on biodiversity, service provisioning, and feedback effects on climate change across scales. The expansion of arid ecosystems is linked to a decline in C and nutrient stocks, plant community biomass and diversity, thereby diminishing the capacity for recovery and maintaining adequate water-use efficiency by plants and microbes. Prolonged drought led to a -3.3% reduction in soil organic carbon (SOC) content (based on 148 drought-manipulation studies), a -8.7% decrease in plant litter input, a -13.0% decline in absolute litter decomposition, and a -5.7% decrease in litter decomposition rate. Moreover, a substantial positive feedback loop with global warming exists, primarily due to increased albedo. The loss of critical ecosystem services, including food production capacity and water resources, poses a severe challenge to the inhabitants of these regions. Increased aridity reduces SOC, nutrient, and water content. Aridity expansion and intensification exacerbate socio-economic disparities between economically rich and least developed countries, with significant opportunities for improvement through substantial investments in infrastructure and technology. By 2100, half the world's landmass may become dryland, characterized by severe conditions marked by limited C, N, and P resources, water scarcity, and substantial loss of native species biodiversity. These conditions pose formidable challenges for maintaining essential services, impacting human well-being and raising complex global and regional socio-political challenges., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Although snow cover is a major factor affecting vegetation in alpine regions, it is rarely introduced into ecological niche models in alpine regions. Snow phenology over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was estimated using a daily passive microwave snow depth dataset, and future datasets of snow depth and snow phenology were projected based on their sensitivity to temperature and precipitation. Furthermore, the potential habitats of five alpine vegetation types on the TP were predicted under two future climate scenarios (SSP245 and SSP585) by using a model with incorporated snow variables, and the driving factors of habitat change were analyzed. The results showed that the inclusion of snow variables improved the prediction accuracy of MaxEnt model, particularly in alpine meadow habitats. By the end of the 21st century, the potential habitats of steppes, meadows, shrubs, deserts, and coniferous forests on the TP will migrate to higher latitudes and altitudes, in which the potential habitats of alpine desert will recede (replaced by alpine steppe), and the potential habitats of other four vegetation types will expand. The random forest importance analysis showed that the recession of potential habitat was mainly driven by the increase in average annual temperature, and the expansion of potential habitat was mainly driven by the increase in precipitation. With the gradual increase in temperature and precipitation in the future, the snow depth and snow cover duration days will decrease, which may further lead to the transition of vegetation types from cold-adapted to warm-adapted on the TP. Our study highlights both that the prediction accuracy of alpine vegetation was improved by incorporating snow variables into the species distribution model, and that a changing climate will likely have a powerful influence on the distribution of alpine vegetation across the TP., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Phyllosphere microbes residing on plant leaf surfaces for maintaining plant health have gained increasing recognition. However, in desert ecosystems, knowledge about the variety, composition, and coexistence patterns of microbial communities in the phyllosphere remains limited. This study, conducted across three basins (Turpan-TLF, Tarim-CL, and Dzungaria-MSW) and three seasons (spring, summer, and autumn) in Xinjiang, China, aimed to explore the diversity and composition of microbial communities in the phyllosphere, encompassing both bacteria and fungi in Alhagi sparsifolia . We also investigated the co-occurrence patterns, influencing factors, and underlying mechanisms driving these dynamics. Results indicate that phyllosphere bacteria exhibited lower diversity indices (ACE, Shannon, Simpson, Fisher phylogenetic diversity, and Richness) in spring compared to summer and autumn, while the Goods Coverage Index (GCI) was higher in spring. Conversely, diversity indices and GCI of phyllosphere fungi showed an opposite trend. Interestingly, the lowest level of multi-functionality and niche width in phyllosphere bacteria occurred in spring, while the highest level was observed in phyllosphere fungi. Furthermore, the study revealed that no significant differences in multi-functionality were found among the regions (CL, MSW, and TLF). Network analysis highlighted that during spring, phyllosphere bacteria exhibited the lowest number of nodes, edges, and average degree, while phyllosphere fungi had the highest. Surprisingly, the multi-functionality of both phyllosphere bacteria and fungi showed no significant correlation with climatic and environmental factors but displayed a significant association with the morphological characteristics and physicochemical properties of leaves. Structural Equation Model indicated that the morphological characteristics of leaves significantly influenced the multi-functionality of phyllosphere bacteria and fungi. However, the indirect and total effects of climate on multi-functionality were greater than the effects of physicochemical properties and morphological characteristics of leaves. These findings offer new insights into leaf phyllosphere microbial community structure, laying a theoretical foundation for vegetation restoration and rational plant resource utilization in desert ecosystems., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Du, Zhang, Islam and Zeng.)

The underground community of soil organisms, known as soil biota, plays a critical role in terrestrial ecosystems. Different ecosystems exhibit varied responses of soil organisms to soil physical and chemical properties (SPCPs). However, our understanding of how soil biota react to different soil depths in naturally established population of salinity tolerant Tamarix ramosissima in desert ecosystems, remains limited. To address this, we employed High-Throughput Illumina HiSeq Sequencing to examine the population dynamics of soil bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and metazoa at six different soil depths (0-100 cm) in the naturally occurring T. ramosissima dominant zone within the Taklimakan desert of China. Our observations reveal that the alpha diversity of bacteria, fungi, metazoa, and protists displayed a linear decrease with the increase of soil depth, whereas archaea exhibited an inverse pattern. The beta diversity of soil biota, particularly metazoa, bacteria, and protists, demonstrated noteworthy associations with soil depths through Non-Metric Dimensional Scaling analysis. Among the most abundant classes of soil organisms, we observed Actinobacteria, Sordariomycetes, Halobacteria, Spirotrichea, and Nematoda for bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and metazoa, respectively. Additionally, we identified associations between the vertical distribution of dominant biotic communities and SPCPs. Bacterial changes were mainly influenced by total potassium, available phosphorus (AP), and soil water content (SWC), while fungi were impacted by nitrate (NO 3 -) and available potassium (AK). Archaea showed correlations with total carbon (TC) and AK thus suggesting their role in methanogenesis and methane oxidation, protists with AP and SWC, and metazoa with AP and pH. These correlations underscore potential connections to nutrient cycling and the production and consumption of greenhouse gases (GhGs). This insight establishes a solid foundation for devising strategies to mitigate nutrient cycling and GHG emissions in desert soils, thereby playing a pivotal role in the advancement of comprehensive approaches to sustainable desert ecosystem management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The utilization of slag and biochar in croplands has been proposed as a management approach to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), from agricultural fields. However, there is limited understanding of the long-term effects of single and combined applications of slag and biochar on GHG emissions in rice paddy fields. We investigated the legacy effects of one-year applications of slag, biochar, and slag+biochar on CH 4 and N 2 O emissions, physicochemical properties, and rice yields during a three-year period (2016-2018) in southeast China. Over the study period, the application of slag reduced CH 4 emissions by 24 %, biochar by 45 %, and the combined application of slag+biochar by 44 %. Across the study period, slag, biochar, and slag+biochar applications resulted in respective N 2 O emissions increases of 78 %, 63 %, and 80 %. Methane emissions contributed to approximately 70 % of the global warming potential (GWP) in the paddy field, which was reduced by 20 % with biochar application and by 15 % with the combined application of slag+biochar. Additionally, the total rice yield in the slag, biochar, and slag+biochar treatments increased by 7 %, 5 %, and 10 %, respectively, compared to the control group. Based on our findings, we recommend the combined application of slag+biochar as a sustainable rice management strategy to effectively reduce GHG emissions from paddy fields while enhancing yield production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The soil organisms are extremely important for the land-based ecosystem. There is a growing interest in studying the variety and composition of the entire underground soil organism community at a large ecological scale. Soil organisms show different patterns in relation to soil physiochemical properties (SPPs) in various ecosystems. However, there is limited knowledge regarding their response to soil vertical profiles (SVPs) in monoculture of Alhagi sparsifolia, which is the primary shrub in the deserts of China, and is well-known for its contributions to sand dune stabilization, traditional Chinese medicine, and forage. Here, we investigated the population dynamics of soil bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists and metazoa across six different SVPs ranging from 0 to 100 cm in monoculture of A. sparsifolia, in its natural desert ecosystem. Our findings indicate that the soil biota communities displayed a declining pattern in the alpha diversity of bacteria, protists, and metazoa with an increase in soil depth. However, the opposite trend was observed for fungi and archaea. The beta diversity of soil biota was significantly affected by SVPs, particularly for metazoa, fungi and protists as revealed by Non-Metric Dimensional Scaling. The most prevalent soil bacterial, fungal, archaeal, protist, and metazoa classes were Actinobacteria, Sordariomycetes, Nitrososphaeria, Filosa-Sarcomonadea, and Nematoda, respectively. The correlation among vertical distribution of the most abundant biotic communities and variations in SPPs exhibited that the variations in total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) had the most significant influence on bacterial changes, while available potassium (AK) had an impact on fungi. Archaea were affected by TC and pH, protists by the C/N-Ratio and TP, and metazoa by TN, AK, and soil water capacity (SWC). Collectively, our findings provide a new perspective on the vertical distribution and distinct response patterns of soil biota in A. sparsifolia monoculture under natural desert ecosystem of China., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Traits of leaves and fine roots are expected to predict the responses and adaptation of plants to their environments. Whether and how fine-root traits (FRTs) are associated with the allocation of foliar phosphorus (P) fractions of desert species in water- and P-poor environments, however, remains unclear. We exposed seedlings of Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. (hereafter Alhagi) treated with two water and four P-supply levels for three years in open-air pot experiments and measured the concentrations of foliar P fractions, foliar traits, and FRTs. The allocation proportion of foliar nucleic acid-P and acid phosphatase (APase) activity of fine roots were significantly higher by 45.94 and 53.3% in drought and no-P treatments relative to well-watered and high-P treatments, whereas foliar metabolic-P and structural-P were significantly lower by 3.70 and 5.26%. Allocation proportions of foliar structural-P and residual-P were positively correlated with fine-root P (FRP) concentration, but nucleic acid-P concentration was negatively correlated with FRP concentration. A tradeoff was found between the allocation proportion to all foliar P fractions relative to the FRP concentration, fine-root APase activity, and amounts of carboxylates, followed by fine-root morphological traits. The requirement for a link between the aboveground and underground tissues of Alhagi was generally higher in the drought than the well-watered treatment. Altering FRTs and the allocation of P to foliar nucleic acid-P were two coupled strategies of Alhagi under conditions of drought and/or low-P. These results advance our understanding of the strategies for allocating foliar P by mediating FRTs in drought and P-poor environments., (© 2023 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)

Plants possess the ability to adapt to osmotic stress by adjusting their physiology and morphology and by cooperating with their root-associated (rhizosphere and endosphere) microbial communities. However, the coordination of host self-regulation with root-associated microorganisms at the community level, especially for desert plants, remains unclear. This study investigated the morphophysiological responses of seedlings from the desert plant Alhagi sparsifolia Shap to osmotic stress, as well as the relationships between these adaptations and their root-associated bacterial communities. The results indicated that osmotic stress contributed to a reduction in height and increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA). In response, A. sparsifolia exhibited a series of morphophysiological adjustments, including increased ratio of root to shoot biomass (R/S) and the number of root tip, enhanced vitality, high levels of peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione (GSH), as well as osmolytes (proline, soluble protein, and soluble sugar) and modification in phytohormones (abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA)). Additionally, osmotic stress resulted in alterations in the compositions and co-occurrence patterns of root-associated bacterial communities, but not α-diversity (Chao1). Specifically, the rhizosphere Actinobacteria phylum was significantly increased by osmotic stress. These shifts in root-associated bacterial communities were significantly correlated with the host's adaptation to osmotic stress. Overall, the findings revealed that osmotic stress, in addition to its impacts on plant physiology, resulted in a restructuring of root-associated microbial communities and suggested that the concomitant adjustment in plant microbiota may potentially contribute to the survival of desert plants under extreme environmental stress., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Biogeochemical niche (BN) hypothesis aims to relate species/genotype elemental composition with its niche based on the fact that different elements are involved differentially in distinct plant functions. We here test the BN hypothesis through the analysis of the 10 foliar elemental concentrations and 20 functional-morphological of 60 tree species in a French Guiana tropical forest. We observed strong legacy (phylogenic + species) signals in the species-specific foliar elemental composition (elementome) and, for the first time, provide empirical evidence for a relationship between species-specific foliar elementome and functional traits. Our study thus supports the BN hypothesis and confirms the general niche segregation process through which the species-specific use of bio-elements drives the high levels of α-diversity in this tropical forest. We show that the simple analysis of foliar elementomes may be used to test for BNs of co-occurring species in highly diverse ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests. Although cause and effect mechanisms of leaf functional and morphological traits in species-specific use of bio-elements require confirmation, we posit the hypothesis that divergences in functional-morphological niches and species-specific biogeochemical use are likely to have co-evolved., (© 2023 The Ecological Society of America.)

The effects of increased nitrogen (N) deposition on desert ecosystems have been extensively studied from a plant community perspective. However, the response of soil microbial communities, which play a crucial role in nutrient cycling, to N inputs and plant community types remains poorly understood. In this study, we conducted a two-year N-addition experiment with five gradients (0, 10, 30, 60, and 120 kg N ha -1 year -1 ) to evaluate the effect of increased N deposition on soil bacterial and fungal communities in three plant community types, namely, Alhagi sparsifolia Shap., Karelinia caspia (Pall.) Less. monocultures and their mixed community in a desert steppe located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, Northwest China. Our results indicate that N deposition and plant community types exerted an independent and significant influence on the soil microbial community. Bacterial α-diversity and community dissimilarity showed a unimodal pattern with peaks at 30 and 60 kg N ha -1 year -1, respectively. By contrast, fungal α-diversity and community dissimilarity did not vary significantly with increased N inputs. Furthermore, plant community type significantly altered microbial community dissimilarity. The Mantel test and redundancy analysis indicated that soil pH and total and inorganic N (NH 4 + and NO 3 - ) levels were the most critical factors regulating soil microbial communities. Similar to the patterns observed in taxonomic composition, fungi exhibit stronger resistance to N addition compared to bacteria in terms of their functionality. Overall, our findings suggest that the response of soil microbial communities to N deposition is domain-specific and independent of desert plant community diversity, and the bacterial community has a critical threshold under N enrichment in arid deserts.

There are many different planting methods for crops, however it is very important to improve the distribution ratio of elements in different organs of crops. Therefore, to understand the effect of different planting patterns on crop element balance, we selected Cyperus esculentus continuous cropping (CC) and C. esculentus - wheat rotation cropping (RC). The leaves, tubers, roots, and soil samples were taken at the mowing time (August 1st, on the 81st day after seed sowing; August 24th, on the 105th day after seed sowing; September 16th, on the 128th day after seed sowing). Results showed that CC and RC had significant effects on soil SO 4 2- and Cl - . With the mowing time, the relative abundance of TN (total nitrogen) in tubers showed an increasing trend, the relative richness of TN in roots decreased, and the relative content of TN in leaves showed no change in the trend under the two planting modes. CC significantly increased the TN/TP (total phosphorus) of leaves, roots, and tubers. However, RC significantly increased the AN (available nitrogen)/AP (available phosphorus) of soil. The random forest analysis (RF) showed that abiotic factors contributed the most to TN/TK (total potassium) of roots, followed by TN/TK of tubers and TP/TK of roots. We found that abiotic factors had no significant impact on TP/TK of leaves and TN/TP of tubers. As expected, different planting patterns alter the plant's N (nitrogen)/P (phosphorus)/K (potassium), which in turn may modify N and P conservation strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: Environmental stresses pose a significant threat to plant growth and ecosystem productivity, particularly in arid lands that are more susceptible to climate change. Strigolactones (SLs), carotenoid-derived plant hormones, have emerged as a potential tool for mitigating environmental stresses., Methods: This review aimed to gather information on SLs' role in enhancing plant tolerance to ecological stresses and their possible use in improving the resistance mechanisms of arid land plant species to intense aridity in the face of climate change., Results: Roots exude SLs under different environmental stresses, including macronutrient deficiency, especially phosphorus (P), which facilitates a symbiotic association with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF). SLs, in association with AMF, improve root system architecture, nutrient acquisition, water uptake, stomatal conductance, antioxidant mechanisms, morphological traits, and overall stress tolerance in plants. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that SL-mediated acclimatization to abiotic stresses involves multiple hormonal pathways, including abscisic acid (ABA), cytokinins (CK), gibberellic acid (GA), and auxin. However, most of the experiments have been conducted on crops, and little attention has been paid to the dominant vegetation in arid lands that plays a crucial role in reducing soil erosion, desertification, and land degradation. All the environmental gradients (nutrient starvation, drought, salinity, and temperature) that trigger SL biosynthesis/exudation prevail in arid regions. The above-mentioned functions of SLs can potentially be used to improve vegetation restoration and sustainable agriculture., Conclusions: Present review concluded that knowledge on SL-mediated tolerance in plants is developed, but still in-depth research is needed on downstream signaling components in plants, SL molecular mechanisms and physiological interactions, efficient methods of synthetic SLs production, and their effective application in field conditions. This review also invites researchers to explore the possible application of SLs in improving the survival rate of indigenous vegetation in arid lands, which can potentially help combat land degradation problems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Soil salinity negatively impacts agricultural productivity. Consequently, strategies should be developed to inculcate a salinity tolerance in crops for sustainable food production. Growth regulators play a vital role in regulating salinity stress tolerance. Methods: Thus, we examined the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and alpha-tocopherol (TP) (100 mg/L) on the morphophysio-biochemical responses of two wheat cultivars (Pirsabak-15 and Shankar) to salinity stress (0 and 40 mM). Results: Both Pirsabak-15 and Shankar cultivars were negatively affected by salinity stress. For instance, salinity reduced growth attributes (i.e., leaf fresh and dry weight, leaf moisture content, leaf area ratio, shoot and root dry weight, shoot and root length, as well as root-shoot ratio), pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll a, and carotenoids) but increased hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), malondialdehyde (MDA), and endogenous TP in both cultivars. Among the antioxidant enzymes, salinity enhanced the activity of peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in Pirsabak-15; glutathione reductase (GR) and PPO in Shankar, while ascorbate peroxidase (APOX) was present in both cultivars. SA and TP could improve the salinity tolerance by improving growth and photosynthetic pigments and reducing MDA and H 2 O 2 . In general, the exogenous application did not have a positive effect on antioxidant enzymes; however, it increased PPO in Pirsabak-15 and SOD in the Shankar cultivar. Conclusions: Consequently, we suggest that SA and TP could have enhanced the salinity tolerance of our selected wheat cultivars by modulating their physiological mechanisms in a manner that resulted in improved growth. Future molecular studies can contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms by which SA and TP regulate the selected wheat cultivars underlying salinity tolerance mechanisms., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Biochar has been proved to be an important soil amendment to alleviate soil phosphorus (P) in the paddy crops. However, the role of specially prepared biochar (N-enriched biochar) on the distribution and transformation of P soil in and rice leaves needs to be revealed. In this study, we studied in a field experiment the effects of two different levels of application of N-enriched biochar on the P fractions of soil and leaves. The results showed that: (1) in early rice, both rates of N-enriched biochar increased soil concentrations of labile inorganic P (Pi) (+51.5 % and +66.2 %, respectively) and labile organic P (Po) (+167 % and + 76.9 %, respectively) and moderately labile Pi (+37.8 % and +27.8 %, respectively) and decreased soil concentration of moderately labile Po (-17.0 % and -52.7 %, respectively) in the 0-15 cm layer. Soil total P concentration was positively correlated with soil labile P fractions and moderately labile Pi concentrations (p < 0.05); (2) in early and late rice, application of the biochar at 4 t ha -1 increased rice leaf concentration of inorganic (+13.3 % and +34.8 %, respectively), nucleic acid (+24.2 % and +13.0 %, respectively) (p < 0.05). The foliar inorganic and nucleic acid P concentrations were positively correlated with foliar total P concentrations; (3) redundancy analysis showed that with the application of N-enriched biochar, soil total carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and P concentration were important factors affecting the chemical forms of soil P, while soil organic matter, soil total P and leaf total P content were important factors affecting the chemical forms of leaf P; (4) allometric growth models showed that under the application of N-enriched biochar, 0-30 cm soil labile Po concentration was positively related to leaf concentration of nucleic acid P, 0-15 cm soil moderately labile Pi concentration was positively related to leaf concentration of inorganic P and nucleic acid P. Thus, this study provides evidence that N-enriched biochar increase the soil P-availability of labile and moderately labile P that in turn improved rice plants P use efficiency., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Revealing the complex relationships between management practices, crop growth, forage nutritive value and soil quality will facilitate the development of more sustainable agricultural and livestock production systems. Cyperus esculentus is known as the king of oil crops and high-quality forage. However, there is little information about the effects of different planting modes {continuous cropping (CC)/rotation cropping (RC)} and initial mowing time on the plant nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value. Here, in a field experiment, we designed two planting patterns, C. esculentus CC and C. esculentus - wheat RC. The leaves, tubers, roots, and soil samples were collected at three mowing time (on the 78 th , 101 th , and 124 th days after seed sowing). Results revealed that RC significantly increased the total nitrogen (TN) and potassium (TK) content of the tuber ( p <0.05), while significantly decreased the TN, total phosphorus (TP), crude protein (CP), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents of the leaves. Under the CC pattern, the TN, TP, and TK content of roots increased significantly on the 78 th days after seed sowing, and the TK content of tubers increased significantly. Under the RC pattern, the ether extract (EE) content of tubers increased significantly on the 124 th days after seed sowing, while the CP and TN content of leaves decreased significantly. Correlation analysis showed that soil pH was negatively correlated with TN content in leaves, tubers, and roots. The structural equation model showed that the soil pH directly affected the plant nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value ( β =0.68) via regulating these properties by changing soil available nutrients, anions, cations, and total nutrients. Overall, we propose that RC for C. esculentus -wheat is should not be recommended to maximize tubers and forage yield., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Du, Zhang, Chai, Li, Ullah, Islam, Zhang and Zeng.)

Background: Phosphorus (P) deficiency in desert ecosystems is widespread. Generally, desert species may allocate an enormous proportion of photosynthetic carbon to their root systems to adjust their P-acquisition strategies. However, root P-acquisition strategies of deep-rooted desert species and the coordination response of root traits at different growth stages to differing soil P availability remains unclear. In this study, a two-year pot experiment was performed with four soil P-supply treatments (0, 0.9, 2.8, and 4.7 mg P kg -1 y -1 for the control, low-, intermediate-, and high-P supply, respectively). Root morphological and physiological traits of one- and two-year-old Alhagi sparsifolia seedlings were measured., Results: For two-year-old seedlings, control or low-P supply significantly increased their leaf Mn concentration, coarse and fine roots' specific root length (SRL), specific root surface area (SRSA), and acid phosphatase activity (APase), but SRL and SRSA of one-year-old seedlings were higher under intermediate-P supply treatment. Root morphological traits were closely correlated with root APase activity and leaf Mn concentration. One-year-old seedlings had higher root APase activity, leaf Mn concentration, and root tissue density (RTD), but lower SRL and SRSA. Two-year-old seedlings had higher root APase activity, leaf Mn concentration, SRL and SRSA, but a lower RTD. Root APase activity was significantly positively correlated with the leaf Mn concentration, regardless of coarse or fine roots. Furthermore, root P concentrations of coarse and fine roots were driven by different root traits, with root biomass and carboxylates secretion particularly crucial root traits for the root P-acquisition of one- and two-year-old seedlings., Conclusions: Variation of root traits at different growth stages are coordinated with root P concentrations, indicating a trade-off between root traits and P-acquisition strategies. Alhagi sparsifolia developed two P-activation strategies, increasing P-mobilizing phosphatase activity and carboxylates secretion, to acclimate P-impoverished in soil. The adaptive variation of root traits at different growth stages and diversified P-activation strategies are conducive to maintaining the desert ecosystem productivity., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Plant, soil, and microbial biomass ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) are crucial in maintaining stability of desert ecosystems. Nevertheless, variation in relations of elemental ratios between different life forms of plants and soil and microbial biomass in desert ecosystems remains unclear. In a hyper-arid desert ecosystem, C, N, and P concentrations and ratios were analyzed in the plant-soil-microbial biomass system of three perennial desert species (Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. [Herb, Fabaceae], Karelinia caspica Pall. [Herb, non-Fabaceae], and Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb. [Shrub]). Concentrations of N and P in Alhagi sparsifolia leaf, stem, and root were significantly greater than those in Karelinia caspica and Tamarix ramosissima, whereas plant C and soil organic C (SOC) were highest with Tamarix ramosissima. Alhagi sparsifolia and Tamarix ramosissima were P-limited, whereas Karelinia caspica was N-limited. According to correlation analysis, SOC rather than soil total P (STP) regulated plant N:P ratios, and microbial biomass C, N, and P rather than SOC, soil total N, and STP regulated plant C:N:P ratios. Soil water content also affected plant nutrient balance. Thus, in a hyper-arid desert ecosystem, the plant-soil-microbial biomass system and the balance of C, N, and P are closely related, and the role of soil microbial biomass in affecting plant nutrient balance should receive increased attention., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With the increasing impact of human activities on the environment, evapotranspiration (ET) has changed in arid areas, which further affects the water resources availability in the region. Therefore, understanding the impact of human activities on ET and its components is helpful to the management of water resources in arid areas. This study verified the accuracy of Fisher's model (PT-JPL model) for ET estimation in southern Xinjiang, China by using the evaporation complementarity theory dataset (AET dataset). The ET and the evapotranspiration components (T:E) of six land-use types were estimated in southern Xinjiang from 1982 to 2015, and the impact of human activities on ET was analyzed. In addition, the impact of four environmental factors (temperature (Temp), net radiation (Rn), relative humidity (RH), and NDVI) on ET were evaluated. The results showed that the calculated ET values of the PT-JPL model were close to the ET values of the AET dataset. The correlation coefficient (R 2 ) was more than 0.8, and the NSE was close to 1. In grassland, water area, urban industrial and mining land, forest land, and cultivated land, the ET values were high, and in unused land types, the ET values were the lowest. The T:E values varied greatly in urban industrial and mining land, forest land, and cultivated land, which was due to the intensification of human activities, and the values were close to 1 in summer in recent years. Among the four environmental factors, temperature largely influenced the monthly ET. These findings suggest that human activities have significantly reduced soil evaporation and improved water use efficiency. The impact of human activities on environmental factors has caused changes in ET and its components, and appropriate oasis expansion is more conducive to regional sustainable development.

In recent years, it has been established that microRNAs (miRNAs) are critical for various plant physiological regulations in numerous species. Next-generation sequencing technologies have aided to our understandings related to the critical role of miRNAs during environmental stress conditions and plant development. Light influences not just miRNA accumulation but also their biological activities via regulating miRNA gene transcription, biosynthesis, and RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) activity. Light-regulated routes, processes, and activities can all be affected by miRNAs. Here, we will explore how light affects miRNA gene expression and how conserved and novel miRNAs exhibit altered expression across different plant species in response to variable light quality. Here, we will mainly discuss recent advances in understanding how miRNAs are involved in photomorphogenesis, and photoperiod-dependent plant biological processes such as cell proliferation, metabolism, chlorophyll pigment synthesis and axillary bud growth. The review concludes by presenting future prospects via hoping that light-responsive miRNAs can be exploited in a better way to engineer economically important crops to ensure future food security., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The leaf economic spectrum (LES) has been repeatedly verified with regional and global datasets. However, the LES of desert plants and its drivers has not been fully explored at the species level. In this study, we sampled three desert perennial plant species ( Alhagi sparsifolia , Karelinia caspia , and Apocynum venetum ) at three different geographical areas of distribution in Xinjiang, China, and measured 10 leaf economic traits to determine their strategy of resource utilization. The scores of the first axis from the principal component analysis of 10 leaf economic traits as a continuous variable define the LES. This study showed that the LES did exist in desert plants in this region. The leaf economic spectrum shifted from a more conservative strategy to a more acquisitive strategy with increasing contents of soil potassium (K) and the ratio of K to phosphorus. Except for the vein density of A. venetum, which quadratically correlated with LES, the vein density, distance between veins, and vein loopiness significantly positively correlated with the LES ( p < 0.05), indicating a covariation and tradeoff relationship. The annual mean temperature was significantly negatively correlated with LES, while the annual mean precipitation (MAP) and the aridity index (AI), which was calculated by the ratio of MAP to potential evapotranspiration, significantly positively correlated with the LES. Of these, vein loopiness and AI were more effective at predicting the change in LES from anatomical and climatic perspectives owing to their high regression coefficients (R 2 ). The findings of this study will substantially improve the understanding of the strategies of desert plants to utilize resources and predict the structure and function of ecosystems.

Background: Increasing soil salinization has a detrimental effect on agricultural productivity.Therefore, strategies are needed to induce salinity-tolerance in crop species for sustainable foodproduction. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) plays a key role in regulating plant salinity stresstolerance. However, it remains largely unknown how mungbean plants (Vigna radiata L.) respondto exogenous GABA under salinity stress., Methods: Thus, we evaluated the effect of exogenous GABA (1.5 mM) on the growth and physiobiochemicalresponse mechanism of mungbean plants to saline stress (0-, 50-, and 100 mM [NaCland Na2SO4, at a 1:1 molar ratio])., Results: Increased saline stress adversely affected mungbean plants' growth and metabolism. Forinstance, leaf-stem-root biomass (34- and 56%, 31- and 53%, and 27- and 56% under 50- and 100mM, respectively]) and chlorophyll concentrations declined. The carotenoid level increased (10%)at 50 mM and remained unaffected at 100 mM. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde(MDA), osmolytes (soluble sugars, soluble proteins, proline), total phenolic content, andenzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase(POD), glutathione reductase (GTR), and polyphenol oxidation (PPO) were significantlyincreased. In leaves, salinity caused a significant increase in Na+ concentration but a decrease inK+ concentration, resulting in a low K+/Na+ concentration (51- and 71% under 50- and 100- mMstress). Additionally, nitrogen concentration and the activities of nitrate reductase (NR) andglutamine synthetase (GS) decreased significantly. The reduction in glutamate synthase (GOGAT)activity was only significant (65%) at 100 mM stress. Exogenous GABA decreased Na+, H2O2,and MDA concentrations but enhanced photosynthetic pigments, K+ and K+/Na+ ratio, Nmetabolism, osmolytes, and enzymatic antioxidant activities, thus reducing salinity-associatedstress damages, resulting in improved growth and biomass., Conclusion: Exogenous GABA may have improved the salinity tolerance of mungbean plants by maintaining their morpho-physiological responses and reducing the accumulation of harmfulsubstances under salinity. Future molecular studies can contribute to a better understanding of themolecular mechanisms by which GABA regulates mungbean salinity tolerance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ullah, Ali, Noor, Zeng, Bawazeer, Eldin, Asghar, Javed, Saleem, Ullah and Ali.)

Agronomic management practices present an opportunity to improve the sustainability of crop production, including reductions of greenhouse gas emissions through impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics. We investigated the impacts of contrasting application rates of nitrogen (N)-enriched biochar (4 and 8 t ha -1 ) on the concentrations of total and active SOC, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), soil aggregates, and the carbon (C) pool management index (CPMI) as an indicator of soil quality in tillering and mature subtropical early and late rice in China. Soil salinity and soil bulk density increased, and soil water content generally decreased under the application of N-enriched biochar at 4 t ha -1 . Following the application of the biochar, there were greater soil concentrations of SOC and lower concentrations of dissolved organic-C and active labile organic‑carbon, indicating reduced mineralization and enhanced stocks of stable-C. Biochar application (4 and 8 t ha -1 ) led to lower soil Ca-SOC concentrations and greater soil Fe(Al)-SOC concentrations. Concentrations of Fe(Al)-SOC were greater under the application of N-enriched biochar at 4 t ha -1 , indicating the bonding capacity of iron‑aluminum oxide and organic carbon provided by biochar improved levels of SOC fixation. The composition of soil aggregates under each treatment was mainly micro-aggregates (<0.25 mm). The greater soil content of macro-aggregates (>0.25 mm) increased under amendment with 4 t of biochar ha -1 and the greater SOC content led to greater soil aggregate stability. Levels of C pool activity, C pool index, and CPMI reduced following application of the biochar, while C pool activity index increased slightly, indicating an increase in soil quality. These results indicate that the application of N-enriched biochar during rice cultivation may lead to reductions in SOC mineralization and C emissions and increases in soil C sink capacity, due to greater SOC pool stability, thus improving the sustainability of paddy rice production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Drought is common in most regions of the world, and it has a significant impact on plant growth and development. Plants, on the other hand, have evolved their own defense systems to deal with the extreme weather. The reprogramming of gene expression by microRNAs (miRNAs) is one of these defense mechanisms. miRNAs are short noncoding RNAs that have emerged as key post-transcriptional gene regulators in a variety of species. Drought stress modulates the expression of certain miRNAs that are functionally conserved across plant species. These characteristics imply that miRNA-based genetic changes might improve drought resistance in plants. This study highlights current knowledge of plant miRNA biogenesis, regulatory mechanisms and their role in drought stress responses. miRNAs functions and their adaptations by plants during drought stress has also been explained that can be exploited to promote drought-resistance among economically important crops., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The mycobiome in the rhizosphere and within the roots benefits the nutrition and function of host plants. However, compared with the bacterial community, root-associated mycobiomes of desert plants and the forces that drive their assemblage are limited. Here, we investigated the mycobiomes in bulk soil, rhizosphere, and root compartments of Alhagi sparsifolia Shap., a phreatophyte species dominating in Central Asia. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene phylogenetic profiles displayed significantly diverse mycobiomes across three compartments and host growth times, together explaining 31.45% of the variation in the community composition. The community structure of the perennial stage was markedly different from that of other stages (30 days to 2 years old). Along the soil-plant continuum, the α-diversity (estimated by Chao1) decreased gradually, while concomitantly increasing the community dissimilarity and the influence of edaphic factors. Specific leaf area, soil water content, and soil organic matter levels were common factors driving the composition of the three mycobiome communities. A more complex and connected network was observed in the root community compared with the other compartments. Overall, our work suggests that an age-sensitive host effect restructured the desert-plant-root-associated mycobiome, and that edaphic factors and host growth strategy may play potential roles in this process.

Calligonum mongolicum is a phreatophyte playing an important role in sand dune fixation, but little is known about its responses to drought and P fertilization. In the present study, we performed a pot experiment to investigate the effects of P fertilization under drought or well-watered conditions on multiple morpho-physio-biochemical attributes of C. mongolicum seedlings. Drought stress leads to a higher production of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and malondialdehyde (MDA), leading to impaired growth and metabolism. However, C. mongolicum exhibited effective drought tolerance strategies, including a higher accumulation of soluble sugars, starch, soluble protein, proline, and significantly higheractivities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) enzymes. P fertilization increased the productivity of drought-stressed seedlings by increasing their growth, assimilative shoots relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, osmolytes accumulation, mineral nutrition, N assimilation, and reduced lipid peroxidation. Our findings suggest the presence of soil high P depletion and C. mongolicum high P requirements during the initial growth stage. Thus, P can be utilized as a fertilizer to enhance the growth and productivity of Calligonum vegetation and to reduce the fragility of the hyper-arid desert of Taklamakan in the context of future climate change.

The upcoming launch of the post-2020 biodiversity framework entails elucidating the future priorities and strategies for conserving biodiversity on a regional and global scale. Desertification has caused significant environmental and socio-economic problems in many arid and semiarid areas of the world. Phreatophytes increase nutrient levels and water reserves in the ground below them and are essential resources for other plants and animals. Factors that can enhance or reduce the island effect of phreatophytes are worthy of research since they can contribute to the survival and growth of this group of plants. Furthermore, these plants substantially impact the whole environment and boast necessary evolutionary adaptations for sustaining islands of life in the arid landscape to prevent complete desertification. Alhagi sparsifolia is a semi-shrub legume and a typical desert phreatophyte. The main objective of this review is to disseminate research-based knowledge and improve awareness of this important plant species and provide a framework that could effectively improve regional socio-ecological environments, particularly in controlling desertification, thereby enhancing human welfare. First, we synthesized knowledge of the physiological acclimation of this species, above all in terms of water and nutrient use, the impact of salinity, and its response to different light environments and temperatures. Then, we analyzed the socio-ecological services that A. sparsifolia offers, highlighted the anthropogenic threats to its habitats, and strategies for its sustainable utilization and management. We conclude that more knowledge of how A. sparsifolia interacts with groundwater will contribute significantly to elucidating the possible effects of climate change and human activities on the sustainable use of groundwater. Protected areas must be set up, and key knowledge shared to combat desertification and improve people's welfare as a means of guaranteeing sustainable development. An integrative socio-ecological approach must be adapted to improve understanding of this valuable phreatophyte's importance and sustainable use and fulfill Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cyperus esculentus L. var. sativus Boeck (commonly called Chufa) is a perennial species that produces nutritious underground tubers and contributes to the diet and health of human worldwide. However, it is salt-sensitive and its adaptation to salinity stress remains an enigma. Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) plays a vital role in regulating plant salt stress tolerance. Thus, we aimed to investigate the impact of NAA (150 mg/L) application on growth and physio-biochemical response mechanisms of Chufa plants to different levels of salinity stress (0-, 90-, and 180 mM of alkaline stress ([1:1 ratio of Na 2 CO 3 and NaHCO 3 ]). In response to increasing stress levels, shoot-root growth decreased, whereas malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), osmolytes (soluble protein, proline, and soluble sugars), and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) significantly increased. Alkalinity led to significant increase in Na + and Cl - , but decrease in Mg 2+ concentration in both roots and leaves; however, K + decreased significantly in leaves under both stresses. Additionally, NO 3 - and. levels, nitrate reductase (NR) activities, and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) decreased significantly. However, glutamine synthetase (GS) increased non-significantly at 90 mM but declined at 180 mM. Foliar NAA application reduced Na + and Cl - , MDA, and H 2 O 2 but increased photosynthetic pigments, K + and Mg 2+ , osmolytes, nitrogen (N) metabolism, and upregulating the enzymatic antioxidant system to reduce oxidative stress under alkaline conditions. Hence, our findings manifest that NAA application is an effective strategy that can be utilized to enhance tolerance of chufa plants to alkaline stress. Future studies should explore whether NAA can positively alter the nutrient composition of chufa tubers at deeper molecular levels, which might offer solutions to nutritious problems in developing countries., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ullah, Zeng, Tariq, Asghar, Saleem, Raza, Naseer, Zhang and Noor.)

Metal toxicity can largely affect the growth and yield of numerous plant species. Plants have developed specific mechanisms to withstand the varying amounts of metals. One approach involves utilization of microRNAs (miRNAs) that are known for cleaving transcripts or inhibiting translation to mediate post-transcriptional control. Use of transcription factors (TFs) or gene regulation in metal detoxification largely depends on metal-responsive miRNAs. Moreover, systemic signals and physiological processes for plants response to metal toxicities are likewise controlled by miRNAs. Therefore, it is necessary to understand miRNAs and their regulatory networks in relation to metal stress. The miRNA-based approach can be important to produce metal-tolerant plant species. Here, we have reviewed the importance of plant miRNAs and their role in mitigating metal toxicities. The current review also discusses the specific advances that have occurred as a result of the identification and validation of several metal stress-responsive miRNAs., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Alhagi sparsifolia (Camelthorn) is a leguminous shrub species that dominates the Taklimakan desert's salty, hyperarid, and infertile landscapes in northwest China. Although this plant can colonize and spread in very saline soils, how it adapts to saline stress in the seedling stage remains unclear so a pot-based experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of four different saline stress levels (0, 50, 150, and 300 mM) on the morphological and physio-biochemical responses in A. sparsifolia seedlings., Results: Our results revealed that N-fixing A. sparsifolia has a variety of physio-biochemical anti-saline stress acclimations, including osmotic adjustments, enzymatic mechanisms, and the allocation of metabolic resources. Shoot-root growth and chlorophyll pigments significantly decreased under intermediate and high saline stress. Additionally, increasing levels of saline stress significantly increased Na + but decreased K + concentrations in roots and leaves, resulting in a decreased K + /Na + ratio and leaves accumulated more Na + and K + ions than roots, highlighting their ability to increase cellular osmolarity, favouring water fluxes from soil to leaves. Salt-induced higher lipid peroxidation significantly triggered antioxidant enzymes, both for mass-scavenging (catalase) and cytosolic fine-regulation (superoxide dismutase and peroxidase) of H 2 O 2 . Nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase also increased at low and intermediate saline stress levels but decreased under higher stress levels. Soluble proteins and proline rose at all salt levels, whereas soluble sugars increased only at low and medium stress. The results show that when under low-to-intermediate saline stress, seedlings invest more energy in osmotic adjustments but shift their investment towards antioxidant defense mechanisms under high levels of saline stress., Conclusions: Overall, our results suggest that A. sparsifolia seedlings tolerate low, intermediate, and high salt stress by promoting high antioxidant mechanisms, osmolytes accumulations, and the maintenance of mineral N assimilation. However, a gradual decline in growth with increasing salt levels could be attributed to the diversion of energy from growth to maintain salinity homeostasis and anti-stress oxidative mechanisms., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The incorporation of post-harvest crop straw and application of industrial and agricultural wastes to paddy soils increase rice crop yields and soil fertility. However, the impacts of combined applications of straw and waste products on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming potential (GWP) of paddy soils are unclear. Therefore, we conducted a field experiment in subtropical rice in China to test the effects of applications of straw, straw+biochar, straw+shell slag, straw+gypsum slag, straw+silicon, and straw+steel slag on rice yields, GWP, and greenhouse gas emission intensity (GHGI). The results showed that, compared to the control, cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from paddy soils were 15.2, 16.9, and 36.6 % lower following application of straw+steel slag, straw+silicon, and straw+gypsum, respectively, and cumulative emissions of methane (CH 4 ) were 5.0 and 62.1 % lower following application of straw+steel slag and straw+gypsum, respectively. Meanwhile, relative to the addition of straw alone, application of straw+steel slag and straw+gypsum reduced GHG emissions largely due to reductions in CO 2 emissions, further declining the GWP of CO 2 and GHGI. In addition, temperature sensitivity (Q 10 ) of CO 2 emissions was highest following application of straw+silicon and lowest following application of straw+gypsum. There were no treatment effects on mean dissolved porewater concentrations of CO 2 , CH 4 , or nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and soil emissions of CO 2 were negatively correlated with mean dissolved concentrations of CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O. Rice yields were reduced following application of straw+gypsum and unaffected by the other treatments. Thus, relative to the addition of straw alone or control, we suggest the combined application of straw+steel slag may improve the sustainability of paddy rice production, because it reduces GWP, while maintaining yields., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In grassland ecosystems, the plant functional group (PFG) is an important bridge connecting individual plants to the community system. The grassland ecosystem is the main ecosystem type on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Altun Mountain is located in the key grassland transcontinental belt of the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The composition and changes in the PFG in this ecosystem reflect the community characteristics in the arid and semi-arid extreme climate regions of the Plateau. The main PFGs were forbs and grasses, and the importance values (IVs) accounted for more than 50%. Plant species diversity of the community was influenced by the IV of the legumes, and the increase in legumes would promote the increase in plant community diversity. The C, N, and P contents of plant communities were mainly influenced by forbs and grasses, and the relationship between forbs and C, N, and P was opposite to that of grasses. However, under the influence of different hydrothermal conditions, forbs and grasses as dominant functional groups had a stronger correlation with community and soil nutrients. This indicates that the dominant PFGs (forbs and grasses) can dominate the C, N, and P contents of the community and soil, and legumes affect community composition and succession. In this study, we analyzed the changing characteristics of functional groups in dry and cold extreme environments and the difference in their impacts on community development compared with other grassland ecosystem functional groups., Competing Interests: The authors declare that this study was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Li, Zeng, Jiang and Wang.)

One of the most damaging issues to cultivatable land is soil salinity. While salt stress influences plant growth and yields at low to moderate levels, severe salt stress is harmful to plant growth. Mineral shortages and toxicities frequently exacerbate the problem of salinity. The growth of many plants is quantitatively reduced by various levels of salt stress depending on the stage of development and duration of stress. Plants have developed various mechanisms to withstand salt stress. One of the key strategies is the utilization of microRNAs (miRNAs) that can influence gene regulation at the post-transcriptional stage under different environmental conditions, including salinity. Here, we have reviewed the miRNA-mediated adaptations of various plant species to salt stress and other abiotic variables. Moreover, salt responsive (SR)-miRNAs, their targets, and corresponding pathways have also been discussed. The review article concludes by suggesting that the utilization of miRNAs may be a vital strategy to generate salt tolerant crops ensuring food security in the future.

Incorporating amendments of industrial waste such as biochar and steel slag in cropland has been used to enhance the storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) while sustaining crop production. Short-term laboratory and field studies have identified important influences of biochar on active SOC fractions associated with soil microbial activity in paddy soils, but the long-term effects remain poorly understood. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined the effects of slag, biochar, and slag+biochar treatments on total SOC concentration, active SOC fractions and soil microbial communities in a paddy field two years after incorporation. Across both two seasons, the addition of slag, biochar, slag+biochar increased soil salinity by 26-80%, 1.3-37% and 42-79%, and also increased soil pH by 0.8-5.7%, 2.1-2.4% and 4.0-6.3%, respectively, relative to the control. SOC concentration was higher in the slag, biochar, and slag+biochar treatments across both rice seasons by 4.3-5%, 0.5-17% and 4.3-7%, respectively. Soil C-pool activity and C-pool management indices in the late paddy season were significantly lower in the slag+biochar treatment than the control by 26.3 and 21.3%, respectively, indicating that the amendments contributed to the stability of SOC. The C concentrations of the biochar and slag amendments affected bacterial abundance more than fungal abundance and affected C cycling. Our study suggests that combined slag and biochar amendments may increase bacterial abundance that may maintain SOC storage and reduce the abundances of potential SOC decomposers in key functional genera, indicating strong coupling relationships with changes of soil properties such as salinity, pH, and SOC concentration. These outcomes due to the amendments (e.g. slag+biochar) may increase microbial C-use efficiency and support the stability of active SOC fractions, with opportunities for long-term C sequestration., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Landscape fragmentation is considered a serious threat to eco-environmental integrity and socioeconomic development. Although many studies have focused on landscape fragmentation resulting from agricultural production and urbanization, landscape fragmentation from the aspects of patterns, driving forces, and the policy perspective of ecosystems has rarely been investigated. Oases, as a unique landscape, face severe fragmentation in arid and semiarid regions. This study applied a combination of approaches, including remote sensing image interpretations, landscape fragmentation metrics, and community surveys, to analyze patterns and their driving forces, as well as the policy implications for future land consolidation, in the Hotan oasis of Northwest China from the space and time perspectives. Results show that the frequent occurrence of summer flood events changes the patch number, density, size, and splitting degree of oasis-desert ecotone vegetation. The socioeconomic factors including total population and irrigation area are more important driving forces on oasis landscape fragmentation, compared with natural factors such as temperature and precipitation. Rural expansion, road and canal system developments caused by population growth, and the rising number of households increase oasis landscape fragmentation. Rapid economic development, such as agricultural expansion and urbanization, has imposed the intensification of landscape fragmentation. Fragmentation reaches peak when agricultural development makes up 40-50% of study area. Rural residential reconstruction and farmland transfer policies facilitate the intensive utilization of land toward oasis fragmentation solutions, but many factors, such as landholders' household characteristics and living conditions, are partly responsible for the challenges in land consolidation. This study also demonstrates that intense human activities pose a great threat for land consolidation and sustainable development of oasis landscape., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The allocation patterns of foliar phosphorus (P) fractions across various vegetation types generally reflect the adaptability to P-impoverished environments. However, the allocation of foliar-P fractions within the desert herb Karelinia caspia ( K. caspica ) and shrub Tamarix ramosissima ( T. ramosissima ) in soils with different environment-P availability and the impact of soil and groundwater properties on foliar-P fractions allocation remain unclear. The foliar-P fractions (metabolites-P, nucleic acid-P, structural-P, and residual-P) of K. caspica and T. ramosissima and the properties of 0-60 cm deep soil under their canopy and groundwater were determined at four different environment-P sites. Results found that as environment-P availability decreased, both plants allocated the higher proportions of foliar-P to nucleic acid-P than to metabolites-P and structural-P. With the exception of residual-P, foliar-P fractions were markedly higher for K. caspica than T. ramosissima . Soil Olsen-P, NO 3 - -N, soil water content, electrical conductivity (EC), groundwater EC, and total dissolved solids (TDSs) played an important role in allocating foliar P-fractions for both K. caspica and T. ramosissima . Compared with K. caspica , the foliar-P fractions of T. ramosissima were more tightly bounded to groundwater than soil properties. Overall, these findings show how desert plants flexibility take advantage of the foliar-P in low environment-P availability and illustrate the foliar-P fractions allocation of desert plants is driven by soil and groundwater properties., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gao, Zhang, Zhang, Yin, Chai, Xu, Tariq and Zeng.)

More efficient use of soil resources, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), can improve plant community resistance and resilience against drought in arid and semi-arid lands. Intercropping of legume and non-legumes can be an effective practice for enhancing P mineralization uptake, and plant nutrient status. However, it remains unclear how intercropping systems using desert plant species impact soil-plant P fractions and how they affect N and water uptake capacity. Alhagi sparsifolia (a legume) and Karelinia caspia (a non-legume) are dominant plant species in the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang Province, China. However, there is a lack of knowledge of whether these species, when intercropped, can trigger synergistic processes and mechanisms that drive more efficient use of soil resources. Thus, in a field experiment over two years, we investigated the impact of monoculture and intercropping of these plant species on soil-plant P fractions and soil-plant nutrients. Both plant species' foliar nutrient (N, P, and K) concentrations were higher under monoculture than intercropping (except K in K. caspia ). Nucleic acid P was higher in the monoculture plots of A. sparsifolia , consistent with higher soil labile P, while metabolic P was higher in monoculture K. caspia , associated with higher soil moderately labile Pi. However, both species had a higher residual P percentage in the intercropping system. Soils from monoculture and intercropped plots contained similar microbial biomass carbon (MBC), but lower microbial biomass N:microbial biomass phosphorus (MBN:MBP) ratio associated with reduced N -acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) activity in the intercropped soils. This, together with the high MBC:MBN ratio in intercropping and the lack of apparent general effects of intercropping on MBC:MBP, strongly suggest that intercropping improved microbe N- but not P-use efficiency. Interestingly, while EC and SWC were higher in the soil of the K. caspia monoculture plots, EC was significantly lower in the intercropped plots. Plants obtained better foliar nutrition and soil P mineralization in monocultures than in intercropping systems. The possible positive implications of intercropping for reducing soil salinization and improving soil water uptake and microbial N-use efficiency could have advantages in the long term and its utilization should be explored further in future studies.

To complete their life cycles, plants require several minerals that are found in soil. Plant growth and development can be affected by nutrient shortages or high nutrient availability. Several adaptations and evolutionary changes have enabled plants to cope with inappropriate growth conditions and low or high nutrient levels. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized for transcript cleavage and translational reduction, and can be used for post-transcriptional regulation. Aside from regulating plant growth and development, miRNAs play a crucial role in regulating plant's adaptations to adverse environmental conditions. Additionally, miRNAs are involved in plants' sensory functions, nutrient uptake, long-distance root transport, and physiological functions related to nutrients. It may be possible to develop crops that can be cultivated in soils that are either deficient in nutrients or have extreme nutrient supplies by understanding how plant miRNAs are associated with nutrient stress. In this review, an overview is presented regarding recent advances in the understanding of plants' responses to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, copper, iron, boron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and calcium deficiencies via miRNA regulation. We conclude with future research directions emphasizing the modification of crops for improving future food security.

The effects of increasing nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition on the nutrient stoichiometry of soil and plant are gaining improving recognition. However, whether and how the responses of N cycle coupled with P of the soil-plant system to external N and P deposition in alpine grassland is still unclear. A short-term external N and P addition experiment was conducted in an alpine grazing grassland in the KunLun Mountain to explore the effects of short-term N and P addition on the nutrient stoichiometry in soil and plant. Different rates of N addition (ranging from 0.5 g N m -2 yr -1 to 24 g N m -2 yr -1 ) and P addition (ranging from 0.05 g N m -2 yr -1 to 3.2 g P m -2 yr -1 ) were supplied, and the soil available N, P, leaf N and P stoichiometry of Seriphidium rhodanthum which dominant in the alpine ecosystem were measured. Results showed that N addition increased soil inorganic N, leaf C, leaf N, and leaf N:P ratio but decreased soil available P and leaf C:P. Furthermore, P addition increased soil available P, leaf P, soil inorganic N, leaf N, and leaf C and reduced leaf C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios. Leaf N:P was positively related to N addition gradient. Leaf C:P and leaf N:P were significantly negatively related to P addition gradient. Although external N and P addition changed the value of leaf N:P, the ratio was always lower than 16 in all treatments. The influences of P addition on soil and plant mainly caused the increase in soil available P concentration. In addition, the N and P cycles in the soil-plant system were tightly coupled in P addition but decoupled in N addition condition. The nutrient stoichiometry of soil and leaf responded differently to continuous N and P addition gradients. These data suggested that the alpine grazing grassland was limited by P rather than N due to long-term N deposition and uniform fertilization. Moreover, increasing P addition alleviated P limitation. Therefore, the imbalanced N and P input could change the strategy of nutrient use of the grass and then change the rates of nutrient cycling in the alpine grassland ecosystem in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2021 Liu et al.)

Plants are subjected to salt and drought stresses concurrently but our knowledge about the effects of combined stress on plants is limited, especially on halophytes. We aim to study if some diverse drought and salt tolerance traits in halophyte may explain their tolerance to salinity and drought stresses, individual and in combination, and identify key traits that influence growth under such stress conditions. Here, the halophyte Halogeton glomeratus was grown under control, single or combinations of 60 days drought and salt treatments, and morphophysiological responses were tested. Our results showed that drought, salinity, and combination of these two stressors decreased plant growth (shoot height, root length, and biomass), leaf photosynthetic pigments content (chlorophyll a, b, a + b and carotenoids), gas exchange parameters (Net photosynthesis rate [P N ], transpiration rate [E], stomatal conductance [g s ]), and water potential (ψ w ), and the decreases were more prominent under combined drought and salinity treatment compared with these two stressors individually performed. Similarly, combined drought and salinity treatment induced more severe oxidative stress as indicated by more hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulated. Nevertheless, H. glomeratus is equipped with specific mechanisms to protect itself against drought and salt stresses, including upregulation of superoxide dismutases (SOD; EC 1.15.1.1) and catalase (CAT; EC 1.11.1.6) activities and accumulation of osmoprotectants (Na + , Cl - , and soluble sugar). Our results indicated that photosynthetic pigments content, gas exchange parameters, water potential, APX activity, CAT activity, soluble sugar, H 2 O 2 , and MDA are valuable screening criteria for drought and salt, alone or combined, and provide the tolerant assessment of H. glomeratus., (© 2021 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)