Figure 6.

Multi‐kingdom biotic interactions at the community level revealed by structural equation modeling (SEM). (A) The expected model is constructed based on two hypotheses: one is that plant community affects soil biota (incl. fungi) by modifying soil properties; the other is that fungi community affects plants and soil biota (excluding fungi), and vice versa. (B) The best model was selected based on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and only significant paths were retained. Line width of each path fitted the size of the standardized path coefficient (SPC) that is shown near each path. The paths of expected #1 are colored dark green, and the paths of expected #2 are colored dark red. In the model, Bray–Curtis dissimilarities were used to represent communities of soil biota, and Jaccard dissimilarities were used to represent plant community. AGFI, adjusted goodness of fit index; AIC, Akaike information criterion; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation. N = 30