Ungulate herbivore behaviours affect grassland soil microbial

Ungulate herbivory, a widespread disturbance, shapes grassland biodiversity and functions primarily through three behaviours: defoliation, trampling and excreta return. However, the effects of these behaviours on soil biodiversity and community assembly under different grazing intensities remain unclear.We conducted a four-year (2019-2022) field simulation experiment in Eurasian steppe to investigate how defoliation, trampling, and excreta return influence soil bacterial. In 2022, we sampling the soil in each plots, and soil microbial diversity were assessed using high-throughput sequencing.