Plant biodiversity responds more strongly to climate warming and anthropogenic activities than microbial biodiversity in the Qinghai-Tibetan alpine grasslands

Biodiversity serves as the fundamental underpinning for ecosystem functions and services. As a result of human-induced global change, there is a growing awareness of the substantial alterations in terrestrial aboveground biodiversity, particularly within alpine regions. However, it remains uncertain whether belowground biodiversity will exhibit similar responses, both in terms of magnitude and manner, to anthropogenic global changes as aboveground biodiversity.
Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impacts of warming, nutrient addition, and grazing on plant and soil microbial biodiversity in alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which are known to be climate-sensitive and vulnerable. The analysis included 819 experimental observations from 152 studies, focusing on species richness, Shannon diversity, and Pielou’s evenness.
We found that plant biodiversity exhibited greater sensitivity to climate warming and anthropogenic activities compared to soil microbial biodi...