Abstract:

The diversity-stability relationship has been a controversial topic in ecology since the 1950s. Natural ecosystems are significantly influenced by human activity, so it is necessary to explore the diversity-stability relationship in relation to environmental disturbance and loss of biodiversity. Studies on this have focused more on above-ground terrestrial ecosystem, and consequently below-ground ecosystem has tended to be neglected, especially with regard to soil microbial diversity and stability. However, soil microbial diversity is crucial to the maintenance of ecosystem functioning as soil microorganisms influence many ecosystem processes and drive biogeochemical cycles. One important aim of soil microbial diversity research is to clarify the responses of soil microorganisms to various environmental fluctuations, so as to predict ecosystem stability and ecological service function. In this paper, we briefly introduce the concepts and research approaches for examining soil microbial diversity and below-ground ecosystem stability. Furthermore, we probe into the soil microbial diversity-stability relationship. We propose that the soil microbial system is a dynamic self-organized system. It maintains its relative stability as a result of soil microbes genetically adapting to environmental disturbances through mutation. In this way, the soil microbial system becomes resistant and resilient to environmental change and consequently sustains the stability of soil ecosystems. Future emphasis in the study of the relationships between soil microbial diversity and stability should put in the coupling processes of the below-ground ecosystem and the above-ground ecosystem. It is essential to construct a theoretical framework for soil microbial ecology by learning from theories of macroscopic ecology. We need to develop some mechanistic models to quantitatively describe and predict the relationship between soil microbial diversity and ecosystem stability.

Key words: diversity-stability, soil microorganisms, multifunctionality, functional redundancy, heredity and mutation, mechanistic model