Fanjiang Zeng

Chinese Academy of Sciences | CAS

Alhagi camelorum, a desert shrub known for its impressive drought tolerance, exhibits notable resilience under arid conditions. However, the underlying mechanisms driving its drought resistance remain largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate these mechanisms by exposing A. camelorum to osmotic stress using varying polyethylene glycol (PEG...

Agricultural production and food security are hindered by abiotic stress in plants. Consequently, novel approaches are needed to overcome these problems and achieve sustainability. Crop production has been demonstrated to be improved by nanoparticles under several biotic and abiotic stress conditions. This experiment examined the effect of differen...

In desert ecosystems, afforestation with xerophytic shrubs has the potential to significantly increase soil nutrient levels by mitigating wind and soil erosion. Nevertheless, further investigation is required to elucidate the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions and stability on different soil depths with afforestation years. We collected...

In desert ecosystems, afforestation with xerophytic shrubs has the potential to significantly increase soil nutrient levels by mitigating wind and soil erosion. Nevertheless, further investigation is required to elucidate the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions and stability on different soil depths with afforestation years. We collected...

Cellular concentration of nitrogen: an essential substrate for vital enzymatic reactions in plants is normally associated with its absorption rate in the diverse range of environments. A little was known about the relationship of nitrogen uptake rate with its metabolism and linked physiological phenotypes of cotton in the desert ambiance, which has...

This study investigates the utility of plant δ¹³C natural labeling in predicting the impacts of environmental shifts on carbon cycling within ecosystems, particularly focusing on paddy fields treated with maize (Zea mays L.) residues and biochar. Specifically, it examines how soil δ¹³C and the sources of soil organic carbon (SOC), respond in paddy...

Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica Oliv.) is an important naturally distributed tree species in the hyper arid region of northwest China. However, the growth response of P. euphratica to the recent changes of "warming and wetting" climate has not yet been clarified. In this study, the P. euphratica forest in the desert oasis transition zone outsi...

Coastal‐wetlands play a crucial role as carbon (C) reservoirs on Earth due to their C pool composition and functional sink, making them significant for mitigating global climate change. However, due to the development and utilization of wetland resources, many wetlands have been transformed into other land‐use types. The current study focuses on th...

Soil phosphorus (P) availability is a crucial factor determining primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystem. Plant functional traits and microbes under P‐deficient conditions can respond positively to increase soil P bioavailability. Whether and/or how the fine‐root traits (FRTs) of deep‐rooted desert species affect the rhizosphere and bulk soil...

Mature xerophytes access groundwater and minimize the risk of water and nutrient deficits in arid environments. However, how their young seedlings respond to the availability of water and nutrients before they reach groundwater is largely unknown. We investigated the effects of different drought regimes (controlled, medium-drought (MD), and severe-...

Cotton is a highly sensitive crop to drought stress. Consequently, it is crucial to devise strategies that optimize crop production in conditions of limited water availability. While potassium silicate has demonstrated effectiveness in mitigating drought stress in various crops, its specific impact on different cotton cultivars under drought condit...

Understanding the influence of afforestation on soil microorganisms, the major drivers of soil processes, is essential for maintaining soil health and sustainability. However, in a desert-oasis ecotone, variations in the microbial community along shrub afforestation years remain unclear. We conducted a metagenomic analysis to study the temporal cha...

Populus euphratica is an important tree species in the arid regions of northwest China, yet sensitive to climate and eco-environmental changes. Recently, the climate of the Northwest China is changing to be “warm and humid”, but how it affected the regional forest growth was not clear. In this study, the radial growth response of Populus euphratica...

To explore nutrient utilization variations between legumes (Medicago sativa) and non-legumes (Cichorium intybus) during growth,we sampled above-ground plant parts and soil at three mowing intervals (60,80,and 100 days after seeding),and computed ecological stoichiometric homeostasis. The findings revealed the leaf N∶K ratio was the highest at the 8...

Analyzing the root-associated microbial communities in desert plants during different seasons may provide a valuable understanding of how desert plants adapt to climate change in harsh environments. Hence, we selected root-associated microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) of Tamarix ramosissima from three regions (Cele, CL; Turpan, TLF; Mosuowa...

Introduction Plastic film mulching (PFM) and deficit irrigation (DI) are vital water-saving approaches in arid agriculture. Cyperus esculentus is a significant crop in dry zones. However, scant data exists on the impacts of these water-saving methods on C. esculentus yield and quality. Method Using randomized block experiment design. Three irrigat...

Drylands, comprising semi‐arid, arid, and hyperarid regions, cover approximately 41% of the Earth's land surface and have expanded considerably in recent decades. Even under more optimistic scenarios, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2100, semi‐arid lands may increase by up to 38%. This study provides an overview of the state‐of...

Phyllosphere microbes residing on plant leaf surfaces for maintaining plant health have gained increasing recognition. However, in desert ecosystems, knowledge about the variety, composition, and coexistence patterns of microbial communities in the phyllosphere remains limited. This study, conducted across three basins (Turpan-TLF, Tarim-CL, and Dz...

Deserts represent key carbon reservoirs, yet as these systems are threatened this has implications for biodiversity and climate change. This review focuses on how these changes affect desert ecosystems, particularly plant root systems and their impact on carbon and mineral nutrient stocks. Desert plants have diverse root architectures shaped by wat...

Desertification, the process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, poses significant environmental, social, and economic challenges worldwide. As desertification continues to threaten ecosystems and livelihoods, innovative strategies for its management are urgently needed. The article begins by elucidating the causes and...

Pre‐exposure of plants to abiotic stressors may induce stress memory and improve tolerance to subsequent stresses. Here, 3‐month‐old Calligonum mongolicum seedlings were exposed to drought (60 days) with (primed) or without (unprimed) early drought exposure of 50 days, to determine whether this enhances seedling resistance and investigate possible...

Understanding the elevational patterns of soil microbial carbon (C) metabolic potentials is instrumental for predicting changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in the face of climate change. However, such patterns remain uncertain in arid mountain ecosystems, where climosequences are quite different from other ecosystems. To address this gap, t...

Due to the increasing impact of worldwide environmental changes, temperature stress has become a major factor resulting in crop yield losses. The discovery of temperature‐stress‐responsive protein‐coding genes has made significant progress in understanding plants' complex stress response systems involving microRNAs (miRNAs). The miRNAs are triggere...

Traits of leaves and fine roots are expected to predict the responses and adaptation of plants to their environments. Whether and how fine‐root traits (FRTs) are associated with the allocation of foliar phosphorus (P) fractions of desert species in water‐ and P‐poor environments, however, remains unclear. We exposed seedlings of Alhagi sparsifolia...

In different plant community types, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus allocation is strongly influenced by environmental factors and differences in community composition. On the horizontal water gradient from west to east in the northern Tibetan Plateau, differences in water gradients alter community composition and nutrient distribution. In this st...

Plants possess the ability to adapt to osmotic stress by adjusting their physiology and morphology and by cooperating with their root-associated (rhizosphere and endosphere) microbial communities. However, the coordination of host self-regulation with root-associated microorganisms at the community level, especially for desert plants, remains uncle...

The effects of increased nitrogen (N) deposition on desert ecosystems have been extensively studied from a plant community perspective. However, the response of soil microbial communities, which play a crucial role in nutrient cycling, to N inputs and plant community types remains poorly understood. In this study, we conducted a two-year N-addition...

Biogeochemical niche (BN) hypothesis aims to relate species/genotype elemental composition with its niche based on the fact that different elements are involved differentially in distinct plant functions. We here test the BN hypothesis through the analysis of the 10 foliar elemental concentrations and 20 functional‐morphological of 60 tree species...

Biochar is increasingly used in crop production as a fertilizer; however, its effects on nutrient cycling and stoichiometry in rice paddy soil–plant systems are unclear. We tested for effects of contrasting rates of biochar on soil and rice plant organ carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) concentrations and stoichiometry and soil physicoche...

The soil organisms are extremely important for the land-based ecosystem. There is a growing interest in studying the variety and composition of the entire underground soil organism community at a large ecological scale. Soil organisms show different patterns in relation to soil physiochemical properties (SPPs) in various ecosystems. However, there...

Background: Soil salinity negatively impacts agricultural productivity. Consequently, strategies should be developed to inculcate a salinity tolerance in crops for sustainable food production. Growth regulators play a vital role in regulating salinity stress tolerance. Methods: Thus, we examined the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and alpha...

N-enriched biochar can increase the accumulation of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and biomass in rice plants. On the other hand, the biomass and C, N, and P contents of plant organs are important indicators to reflect plant C, N, and P storages. We established control, 4 t ha−1, and 8 t ha−1 N-enriched biochar treatment plots in a subtr...

Plant diseases and insect pests are major limiting factors that reduce crop production worldwide. Silicon is one of the most abundant elements in the lithosphere and has a positive impact on plant health by effectively mitigating biotic and abiotic stresses. It also enhances plant resistance against insect pests and fungal, bacterial, and viral dis...

Biological nitrogen fixation of deep-rooted legumes is a major pathway of nitrogen (N) inputs to drylands. Water sources including groundwater and streamflow are vital to the growth of deep-rooted legumes in drylands, but it is unclear how their different availability and biochemical properties may influence plant N fixation. We established two sam...

Background: Environmental stresses pose a significant threat to plant growth and ecosystem productivity, particularly in arid lands that are more susceptible to climate change. Strigolactones (SLs), carotenoid-derived plant hormones, have emerged as a potential tool for mitigating environmental stresses. Methods: This review aimed to gather info...

Revealing the complex relationships between management practices, crop growth, forage nutritive value and soil quality will facilitate the development of more sustainable agricultural and livestock production systems. Cyperus esculentus is known as the king of oil crops and high-quality forage. However, there is little information about the effects...

Background: Phosphorus (P) deficiency in desert ecosystems is widespread. Generally, desert species may allocate an enormous proportion of photosynthetic carbon to their root systems to adjust their P-acquisition strategies. However, root P-acquisition strategies of deep-rooted desert species and the coordination response of root traits at differe...

Biochar has been proved to be an important soil amendment to alleviate soil phosphorus (P) in the paddy crops. However, the role of specially prepared biochar (N-enriched biochar) on the distribution and transformation of P soil in and rice leaves needs to be revealed. In this study, we studied in a field experiment the effects of two different lev...

Mineral nutrition plays a vital role in plant growth and metabolism. To date, 17 essential nutrients have been identified that are direly needed for plant growth. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are among the essential macronutrients, whereas micronutrients include chloride (Cl), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), co...

Agricultural productiveness score and the outcome is relocating nutrients from the soil to the crops, stock, and agriculture. When animal and plant foodstuffs and products are depleted and obsessed, nutrients are relocated and exchanged in humans. The accomplishment of the hunger-free target, food security measures, and alleviation and mollificatio...

It remains uncertain how different N inputs as synthetic fertilizer or manure and irrigation types affect nitrous oxide (N2O) production and effluxes in the subsurface. A field trial was carried out in 2016 to evaluate the impacts of conventional urea, animal manure, and a 50/50 mix of urea and manure on N2O production/effluxes from a cotton (Gossy...

The leaf economic spectrum is a comprehensive concept to describe the coordinated changes in leaf structure and chemical and physiological traits under different resource gradients. Our overall goal is to explore the intraspecific variation of leaf traits along environmental gradients, determine the influencing factors of the leaf economic spectrum...

With the increasing impact of human activities on the environment, evapotranspiration (ET) has changed in arid areas, which further affects the water resources availability in the region. Therefore, understanding the impact of human activities on ET and its components is helpful to the management of water resources in arid areas. This study verifie...

Plant, soil, and microbial biomass ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) are crucial in maintaining stability of desert ecosystems. Nevertheless, variation in relations of elemental ratios between different life forms of plants and soil and microbial biomass in desert ecosystems remains unclear. In a hyper-arid desert ecosystem, C,...

Background Increasing soil salinization has a detrimental effect on agricultural productivity.Therefore, strategies are needed to induce salinity-tolerance in crop species for sustainable foodproduction. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) plays a key role in regulating plant salinity stresstolerance. However, it remains largely unknown how mungbean plants...

Study region Qira oasis, a typical catchment alluvial fan composed by agriculture and natural shrubs at the south margin of Taklimakan Desert, China Study focus Water management modeling involves causal interaction effects of various water-related ecosystem services (ESs) under multiple-criteria water management alternatives, measuring expected be...

Snowmelt from the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the water source of many major Asian rivers, with significant importance for regional water supply and ecosystem services. The spatiotemporal variations of snow cover on the TP and its response to climate change at different altitudes are still unclear because of the lack of in situ observations on the west...

The mycobiome in the rhizosphere and within the roots benefits the nutrition and function of host plants. However, compared with the bacterial community, root-associated mycobiomes of desert plants and the forces that drive their assemblage are limited. Here, we investigated the my-cobiomes in bulk soil, rhizosphere, and root compartments of Alhagi...

Aims To study the effect of drip irrigation mulching and the most suitable irrigation system for Cyperus esculentus L., and to provide a reference for the construction of a cultivation model for water-saving and high yield management of Cyperus esculentus. Methods To study the effects of irrigation and mulching control on the nutrients and biomass...

Few studies have investigated how the reclamation of the desert to cropland affects soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. A study site was initiated in 2005 at the southern Taklimakan Desert by establishing four fields along the desert−oasis ecotone. Three fields were reclaimed as croplands for continuous cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production and...

Calligonum mongolicum is a phreatophyte playing an important role in sand dune fixation, but little is known about its responses to drought and P fertilization. In the present study, we performed a pot experiment to investigate the effects of P fertilization under drought or well-watered conditions on multiple morpho-physio-biochemical attributes o...

Arid ecosystems are characterized by low availability and mobility of soil nutrients and slow geochemical cycles. Management of native vegetation in such ecosystems for fuel, livestock grazing, and other agricultural activities (burning and cutting) may threaten semi-natural communities due to the changes in nutrient cycles and soil fertility. Alha...

Arid ecosystems are characterized by low availability and mobility of soil nutrients and slow geochemical cycles. Management of native vegetation in such ecosystems for fuel, livestock grazing, and other agricultural activities (burning and cutting) may threaten semi-natural communities due to the changes in nutrient cycles and soil fertility. Alha...

Quantifying the similarities and differences in atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition between different ecosystems is important to develop effective measures to reduce air pollution and maintain biodiversity. Here we show that the constitution of N deposition differed significantly between a grassland and a desert ecosystem in Northwestern China. Flu...

Cyperus esculentus L. var. sativus Boeck (commonly called Chufa) is a perennial species that produces nutritious underground tubers and contributes to the diet and health of human worldwide. However, it is salt-sensitive and its adaptation to salinity stress remains an enigma. Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) plays a vital role in regulating plant salt...

Coexisting plants can enhance soil phosphorus (P) availability and plant-P acquisition. However, whether plants growing in P-impoverished desert ecosystems present flexible foliar-P allocation strategies and show discrepancies in their response to different chemical forms of soil-P in plant/plant mixed systems requires further exploration. Four s