Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39586764›Full record

ArticleEcological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America2025

Active restoration efforts drive community succession and assembly in a desert during the past 53 years.

Qingqing Hou, Weigang Hu, Ying Sun, Elly Morriën, Qiang Yang, Muhammad Aqeel, Qiajun Du, Junlan Xiong, Longwei Dong, Shuran Yao and 17 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  5. Active restoration efforts drive community succession and assembly in a desert during the past 53 years.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

27 authors.

Qingqing HouState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Weigang HuState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1422-3726
Ying SunState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Elly MorriënDepartment of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics (IBED-ELD), Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Qiang YangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Muhammad AqeelState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Qiajun DuState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Junlan XiongState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Longwei DongState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Shuran YaoState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Jie PengState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yuan SunState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0219-5054
Muhammad Adnan AkramState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Rui XiaState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yahui ZhangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Xiaoting WangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Shubin XieState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Liang WangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Liang ZhangState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Fan LiState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Yan DengState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Jiali LuoState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Jingyan YuanState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Quanlin MaGansu Academy of Forestry, Lanzhou, China.
Karl J NiklasSchool of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Jinzhi RanState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Jianming DengState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.

Funding

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities lzujbky-2019-it15Innovation Base and Talent Plan Project of Gansu Province 2021YFF0703904National Key Research and Development Program of China 2023YFF0805600National Natural Science Foundation of China 32001192National Natural Science Foundation of China 32225032National Natural Science Foundation of China 32271597Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province 21JR1RA138Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province 22JR5RA525Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province 23JRRA1157
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Regreening efforts in deserts have been implemented globally to combat land degradation and desert expansion, but how they affect above- and belowground community succession and assembly processes remains unknown. Here, we examined variations in plant and soil microbial community attributes along a 53-year restoration chronosequence following the establishment of straw checkerboard barriers (SCBs) in the Tengger Desert of China. This approach is a combination of fixing shifting sand and adding organic material (straw) simultaneously to expedite vegetation restoration by enhancing the success of plant establishment. Our findings revealed that the establishment of SCBs significantly triggered plant and soil microbial communities to gradually approximate those of the natural community along restoration duration. We observed positive and negative bidirectional shifts in plant and soil microbial community composition. Critical temporal threshold zones for relatively rapid changes in community composition were identified, with 2-15.5 years for plants, 0.5-8.5 years for bacteria, and 2-8.5 years for fungi. This suggests a delayed response of plant communities to restoration efforts compared with soil microbial communities. Both stochastic and deterministic processes regulated plant and soil microbial community assembly. Stochastic processes played a more important role in plant and fungal community succession, whereas deterministic processes primarily governed bacterial succession. In terms of deterministic processes, temporal variations in community composition mainly resulted from the intrinsic correlations among plant, bacterial, and fungal communities, as well as an increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) with restoration duration. Thus, temporal patterns and functional contributions of bacterial communities appear to be more predictable than those of plant and fungal communities during desert ecosystem restoration. This study emphasizes that plant-bacteria-fungi correlations and increasing SOC content are critical for accelerating community succession and promoting dryland restoration. Future studies should explore and integrate temporal variations and restoration effects of multiple ecosystem functions to better predict dryland development and resilience to global climate changes over a large temporal scale.

Indexed as

Conservation of Natural ResourcesDesert ClimateEnvironmental Restoration and RemediationPlantsSoil MicrobiologyBacteriaChinaFungiTime Factorscommunity assemblydesertificationecological restorationplant‐bacteria‐fungi correlationsstochasticitysuccessiontemporal thresholds

Identifiers

PMID39586764
PMCPMC11725625

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.