Abstract:

Background: Higher plant diversity is known to promote ecosystem functions, with the positive relationship typically attributed to plant-plant interactions. However, a growing body of literature has revealed the crucial role of soil microorganisms in regulating the relationships between plant diversity and ecosystem functions. 

Progresses: This review first summarizes how plant diversity affects soil microbes and how soil microbes, in turn, influence ecosystem functions. It then focuses on the specific soil microbial functional groups and summarizes the research progress on how they mediate the relationships between plant diversity and productivity. Taken together, soil microorganisms may indirectly affect ecosystem functions by responding to changes in plant diversity, or they may also directly mediate the interactions between plant diversity and ecosystem functions. 

Perspectives: Future studies should prioritize the pathways through which soil microbes regulate the relationships between plant diversity and ecosystem functions, as well as quantify the relative contribution of soil microbes and environmental factors to these relationships. This will provide new insights into understanding the impacts of biodiversity loss in the context of global climate change.

Key words: plant diversity, plant productivity, soil microbial diversity, microbial functional group, mycorrhizal fungi, pathogen