Figure 9.

A conceptual framework for understanding the effects of plant and fungal richness on soil multifunctionality in a semi-arid grassland. Changing plant biomass allocation patterns increased the ratio of plant below-ground biomass to above-ground biomass under high diversity plant assemblages, which can alleviate microbial carbon (C) limitation and thus enhance the fungal richness, finally promoting soil multifunctionality. The fungal richness was positively related to soil multifunctionality, but the bacterial richness was not. Saprotrophic fungi and rare fungal taxa were essential for maintaining the soil functions. The blue arrow represents an increase, and the red arrow represents a decrease. + and − describe promotion and inhibition effects. AGB: plant above-ground biomass; BGB: plant below-ground biomass; SMF: soil multifunctionality.