Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40871419›Full record

ArticleMicroorganisms2025

Independent and Interactive Effects of Precipitation Intensity and Duration on Soil Microbial Communities in Forest and Grassland Ecosystems of China: A Meta-Analysis.

Bo Hu, Wei Li

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microorganisms, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

2 authors.

Bo HuCollege of Soil and Water Conservation, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
Wei LiCollege of Soil and Water Conservation, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.

Funding

First-Class Discipline Program of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Prevention, Yunnan Province (SBK20240042), and Yunnan Joint Fund in Agricultural Basic Research (202501BD070001-090) (SBK20240042) and (202501BD070001-090)
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Altered precipitation regimes, both in intensity and duration, can profoundly influence the structure and function of soil microbial communities, yet the patterns and drivers of these responses remain unclear across ecosystem types. Here, using data exclusively from 101 field experiments conducted in China (yielding 695 observations), we investigated the impacts of altered precipitation on soil microbial biomass, diversity, and enzymatic activity in forest and grassland ecosystems. Soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) increased in response to precipitation addition, particularly in grasslands, but they decreased under reduced precipitation, with the decline being more pronounced in forests. The magnitude and duration of precipitation manipulation significantly influenced these effects, with moderate and long-term changes producing divergent responses. Bacterial diversity was largely unaffected by all precipitation treatments, whereas fungal diversity decreased significantly under intense and short-term reductions in precipitation. Enzyme activities exhibited the following element-specific patterns: carbon- and phosphorus-cycling enzymes and antioxidant enzymes were suppressed by precipitation reduction, especially in grasslands, while nitrogen-cycling enzymes showed no consistent response. Moreover, microbial responses were significantly shaped by environmental factors, including mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), and elevation. Our region-specific analysis highlights precipitation-driven microbial dynamics across China's diverse climatic and ecological conditions. These findings demonstrate that soil microbial communities respond asymmetrically to precipitation changes, with responses shaped by both ecosystem type and climatic context, underscoring the need to account for environmental heterogeneity when predicting belowground feedback to climate change.

Indexed as

enzyme activityforest ecosystemgrassland ecosystemmeta-analysismicrobial diversityprecipitation gradientsoil microbial biomasstemporal scale

Identifiers

PMID40871419
PMCPMC12388620

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.