More drought leads to a greater significance of biocrusts to soil multifunctionality

1. Soil biocrusts, as the fundamental component of drylands, alter soil microbial and plant community compositions, thus profoundly affecting soil multifunctionality (SMF). Biocrust development regulates microbial composition and eco-physiological effects, but there have been limited assessments regarding how biocrust development impacts SMF through microbial communities and plant species. 2. We investigated the geographical patterns of plant diversity, soil bacterial diversity, biocrust development and SMF along an aridity gradient, spanning 2,200 km in northern China, and evaluated how biocrust development modulated multiple soil functions related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. 3. Plant species richness and SMF decreased linearly with increasing aridity (1-AI), but the relationship of soil bacterial diversity and biocrust development index (BSCDI) with aridity differed between arid region and semi-arid region. 4. Plant diversity and soil bacterial diversity increased linearly with BSCDI in arid regions, but decreased linearly with BSCDI in semi-arid regions. 5. Both plant species and soil bacterial diversity exerted positive effects on SMF in arid regions, but soil bacterial diversity, rather than plant species, did not explain any variation in SMF in semi-arid regions. Most importantly, biocrust development exerted direct effects on SMF in arid regions, but only indirect effects through changing soil microbial biomass carbon in semi-arid regions. 6. Our findings suggest that the effects and influencing pathways of biocrusts on SMF are different between arid and semi-arid regions, these results give a comprehensive view of how biocrust development facilitates soil multifunctionality improvement and ultimately promotes a deeper understanding of the dependence of biodiversity-SMF relationship on aridity. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Automated summary

Plant diversity, soil bacterial diversity, biocrust development, and SMF show geographic patterns along an aridity gradient in northern China, with biocrust development influencing soil functions related to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles. Overall, this study highlights the different effects and pathways of biocrusts on SMF in arid and semi-arid regions, providing insights into how biocrust development promotes soil multifunctionality and enhancing our understanding of the biodiversity-SMF relationship in varying aridity conditions.