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Mowing, as a common grassland utilization strategy, affects nutrient status in soil by plant biomass removal. Phosphorus (P) cycle plays an important role in determining grassland productivity. However, few studies have addressed the impacts of mowing on P cycling in grassland ecosystems. Here, we investigated the effects of various mowing regimes on soil P fractions and P accumulation in plants and litters. We specifically explored the mechanisms by which mowing regulates ecosystem P cycling by linking aboveground community with soil properties. Our results showed that mowing increased soil dissolvable P concentrations, which probably met the demand for P absorption and utilization by plants, thus contributing to an increased P accumulation by plants. Mowing promoted grassland P cycling by a reciprocal relationship between plants and microbes. Short-term mowing enhanced P cycling mainly through increased root exudation-evoked the extracellular enzyme activity of microbes rather than the alternations in microbial biomass and community composition. Long-term mowing increased P cycling mainly by promoting carbon allocation to roots, thereby leading to greater microbial metabolic activity. Although mowing-stimulation of organic P mineralization lasted for 15 consecutive years, mowing did not result in soil P depletion. These results demonstrate that P removal by mowing will not necessarily lead to soil P limitation. Our findings would advance the knowledge on soil P dynamic under mowing and contribute to resource-efficient grassland management.

Belowground plant traits play important roles in plant diversity loss driven by atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. However, the way N enrichment shapes plant microhabitats by patterning belowground traits and finally determines aboveground responses is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the rhizosheath trait of 74 plant species in seven N-addition-simulation experiments across multiple grassland ecosystems in China. We found that rhizosheath formation differed among plant functional groups and contributed to changes in plant community composition induced by N enrichment. Compared with forb species, grass and sedge species exhibited more distinct rhizosheaths; moreover, grasses and sedges expanded their rhizosheaths with increasing N-addition rate which allowed them to colonize belowground habitats. Grasses also shaped a different microenvironment around their roots compared with forbs by affecting the physicochemical, biological and stress-avoiding properties of their rhizosphere soil. Rhizosheaths act as a “biofilm-like shield” by accumulating of protective compounds, carboxylic anions and polysaccharides, determined by both plants and microorganisms. This enhanced the tolerance of grasses and sedges to stresses induced by N enrichment. Conversely, forbs lacked the protective rhizosheaths which renders their roots sensitive to stresses induced by N enrichment, thus contributing to their disappearance under N-enriched conditions. This study uncovers the processes by which belowground facilitation and trait matching affects aboveground responses under conditions of N enrichment, which advances our mechanistic understanding of the contribution of competitive exclusion and environmental tolerance to plant diversity loss caused by N deposition.