Ke-Lin Wang

• Chinese Academy of Sciences

Soil viruses, ubiquitous and abundant biological entities that are integral to microbial communities, exert pivotal impacts on ecosystem functionality, particularly within carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles, through intricate interactions with bacteria, archaea, fungi, and other microbial taxa. While their contributions to soil ecosystem dynamics a...

Revealing regional-scale differences in microbial community structure and metabolic strategies across different land use types and soil types and how these differences relate to soil carbon (C) cycling function is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in agroecosystems. However, our understanding of the...

Rock outcrops, prevalent in mountain ecosystems worldwide, occupy space and exhibit distinct physical and chemical properties compared with soil. Therefore, it is theorized that these properties significantly affect soil functions. However, previous studies have either overlooked rocks entirely or only considered the proportion of rock covered, lea...

Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), a glycoprotein primarily exuded by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), exerts key roles in ecological processes in terrestrial ecosystems. Nevertheless, the intricate nature of GRSP, coupled with constraints in its extraction and analytical methodologies, impedes a comprehensive understanding of its composition...

Metal-bound organic carbon (OC-metal), primarily associated with calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe), represents the bulk of mineral-protected OC and is considered a stable soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. The response of OC-metal to warming, the factors limiting its accumulation, and the role of lithology are largely unknown, hindering our predictions of OC...

Unraveling how agricultural management practices affect soil biota network complexity and stability and how these changes relate to soil processes and functions is critical for the development of sustainable agriculture. However, our understanding of these knowledge still remains unclear. Here, we explored the effects of soil management intensity o...

Monitoring trends in gross primary productivity (GPP) is essential for assessing changes in carbon sinks. The implementation of rocky desertification control in karst areas has led to an increase in GPP. However, its impact on the nonlinearity of GPP increase has not been determined. Based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method,...

Diverse exogenous nitrogen (N) sources have a considerable impact on microbial community structure in terrestrial ecosystems. Legume plants and N deposition can relieve N limitations and increase net primary productivity. However, the differences in their effects on soil microbial communities remain unclear. Here, the responses of the soil microbia...

Diverse exogenous nitrogen (N) sources have a considerable impact on microbial community structure in terrestrial ecosystems. Legume plants and N deposition can relieve N limitations and increase net primary productivity. However, the differences in their effects on soil microbial communities remain unclear. Here, the responses of the soil microbia...

Microbial biomass nitrogen highlights the importance of diverse microbial communities in nutrient cycling and availability. Complex soil food webs improved soil nutrient availability and soybean growth. Soil sterilization boosts soybean growth, likely by eliminating soil-borne pathogens and pests. Soil fertility is one of the key determinants of ag...

Evaluating the soil moisture response characteristics to rainfall events is valuable for understanding eco-hydrological effects in the context of global climate change. However, the effects of soil thickness and rainfall characteristic indicators on soil moisture responses remain unclear, especially in the karst hillslopes characterized by highly c...

Under the background of large-scale ecological restoration, China’s southwestern karst region has become a hotspot of global vegetation cover “greening” in the past 20 years. However, because of geological constraints, it is difficult to restore the forest landscapes in some areas. It is urgent to understand the impacts of human disturbances during...

Warming and increased CO2 levels are generally believed to enhance photosynthetic rates (A) and tree growth, especially in alpine treelines. However, this positive effect may be limited by moisture availability. Here we compare the radial growth and intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) of two widely-distributed evergreen needleleaf species, Tibeta...

Forest structure complexity is an essential variable in forest management and conservation, as it has a direct impact on ecosystem processes and functions. Previous studies have primarily focused on tree cover as a proxy, which often falls short in providing comprehensive information on the structural complexity of forests. Sub-meter resolution rem...

Due to the coupled or interconnected relationships among frequent climate extremes, unique geological conditions, discontinuous soil distribution, rugged geomorphology, and highly heterogeneous landscapes in different karst watersheds, few studies were conducted to decouple the relative magnitudes of the climate, lithology, soil, topography, and la...

Soil nitrification, driven by ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB), is a crucial process in maintaining the soil nitrogen (N) balance. However, the influence of AOA and AOB on soil gross nitrification rates (GNR) in response to vegetation restoration remains unclear, particularly in karst regions. In this study, we i...

Bacteria, fungi, and protists occupy a pivotal position in maintaining soil ecology. Despite limited knowledge on their responses to managed vegetation restoration strategies in karst regions, we aimed to study the essential microbial communities involved in the process of vegetation restoration. We compared microbial characteristics in four land u...

South China Karst faces the challenge of balancing ecological conservation and regional development, a task made more intricate by the geological limitations of carbonate formations. Large‐scale conservation and restoration initiatives have mitigated rocky desertification and positioned South China Karst as a global hotspot for vegetation regrowth...

Lithology can strongly influence soil's physical and chemical properties, significantly affecting soil nitrogen (N) transformation rates. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox Nitrospira) constitute the major producers of soil nitrous oxide (N 2 O), but the importance of different...

Understanding historical soil moisture (SM) variations and their relationship with temperature in high‐latitude humid regions is essential for predicting hot droughts under widespread warming. This paper presents the first‐ever annual‐resolution summer surface SM reconstruction (1736–2006 CE) in Sweden, located in northern Europe (NE). The reconstr...

Protists are commonly considered to be drivers of soil microbial functional groups in terrestrial ecosystems. Although the impact of land use intensity on protist diversity and community composition has been well reported, the response of the protist community to different lithologies is less well understood. We conducted field sampling in forests...

Rocky desertification is a prominent ecological issue in Southwest China's karst region, ranking among the nation's three primary ecological challenges alongside soil erosion and desertification. The government initiated the Rocky Desertification Treatment Program in 2008, lacking a comprehensive evaluation of its benefits. This study evaluates the...

The crucial functional arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and diazotrophs play pivotal roles in nutrient cycling during vegetation restoration. However, the impact of managed vegetation restoration strategies on AMF and diazotroph communities remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the community structure and diversity of AMF and diazotroph...

Plain Language Summary Rocky desertification refers to the transformation of a karst area once covered with vegetation into rock‐baer landscapes. In southwest China, rocky desertification is the greatest ecological degradation problem. Although hundreds of billions were invested to carry out ecological restoration, it is uncertain whether the regio...

Soil micro-food webs play an important role in ecosystem functions through energy flow; they are strongly influenced by land use types. Previous studies have typically utilized the space-for-time substitution or single-time sampling method to reflect the land-use change effects by comparing differences among existing land-use types. These methods w...

Understanding the chemical composition, origin, and molecular structure of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in multi-interface runoff is essential for comprehending the fate of laterally transported DOM in complex soilepikarst systems of karst hillslopes. Limited information, however, is available for the optical properties and molecular compositio...

Soil microorganisms are vital components of the karst terrestrial ecosystem. However, their responses to the vegetation succession on karst mountain peaks remain unclear as to whether soil microbial diversity and community compositions change with vegetation succession. We investigated the diversity and community compositions of soil bacteria and f...

Sacred forests are increasingly disappearing due to increasing land pressure and a decline in cultural values. Protecting the remaining sacred forests plays a crucial role in preserving biodiversity. The existence of remaining old forests often related to local people and their culture, but this relationship has rarely been quantified at large regi...

Topography plays a crucial role in predicting rainfall-runoff processes under climate change, as it affects the spatial distribution of water flow pathways. However, understanding the potential impact of high microtopography heterogeneity on runoff generation remains challenging. We conducted high-resolution monitoring of soil moisture, instantaneo...

How hydrothermal factors and CO2 concentration affect the vegetation carbon sink over time and across elevation gradients is crucial for carbon sequestration and enhancement, which remains unclear. Here, the temporal changes of the interannual relationship of net primary productivity (NPP) with hydrothermal factors and CO2 concentration over elevat...

Lithology is a pivotal factor in controlling soil organic carbon (C) stabilization. The decomposition of soil organic matter can be potentiated by plant C inputs, a phenomenon termed the 'priming effect' (PE), which is a crucial yet highly unpredictable factor in soil C dynamics. However, our understanding of lithology's influence on soil PE remain...

The southwestern region of China is the largest exposed karst area in the world and serves as an important ecological security barrier for the upstream of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. The epikarst, formed by an interwoven network of dissolutional pores, is the core area of the karst critical zone. Water is the most active component that p...

Mosses are multifunctional communities that are increasingly recognized as potential and sustainable resources to restore degraded ecosystems. However, available information is limited on the influence of mosses on soil multifunctionality during vegetation restoration in subtropical ecosystems. We investigated the effects of mosses on soil multifun...

Water availability (WA) is a key factor influencing the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems under climate warming, but its effects on gross primary production (E WA-GPP) at multiple time scales are poorly understood. We used ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and partial correlation analysis to assess the WA-GPP relationship (R WA-GPP)...

South-West China (SWC) is a pivotal region for global greening, recognized as having great carbon sink potential. Multiple evidence underscores the expanding contribution of SWC’s carbon sink to the global carbon sink enhancement. However, our understanding of carbon sink dynamics and the response to climate across bedrock remains limited. In this...

Free‐living N2 fixation (FNF) is an important source of bioavailable nitrogen for forests. Though increasing plant species diversity (PSD) benefits soil nitrogen accumulation, how it impacts FNF rate has not been explored. Forty‐five plots covering a PSD gradient were selected in a subtropical karst forest, southwest China. FNF rates in leaf litter...

Net ecosystem productivity (NEP) is important in the carbon cycle. However, the divergent responses of NEP to climate change along topographical gradient, particularly slope, and aspect, is not yet well understood. This study investigates divergent response of NEP to climate change during 1981–2018 along topographical gradient by Ensemble Empirical...

Rural roads are important channels connecting residents' lives and production, and their landscape quality affects the appearance of local villages. However, few existing rural studies have investigated rural road landscapes, and there is a lack of a quantitative interpretation system for the visual quality of landscapes. This study aimed to use a...

Over the past two decades, the karst region in southern China has emerged as a critical area for ecological conservation and restoration, attracting global attention for its efforts in ‘greening.’ However, particular areas face challenges transitioning into forests due to the carbonate bedrock constraint, which likely undermines sustainability of g...

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for ecosystem productivity, restoration and succession processes. Biological N fixation and chemical N addition are both important strategies for accessing N nutrients in soil ecosystem. However, it is unclear which N supplement strategies is more effective in restoring ecosystem stability, particularly in soil...

The karst forest is one of the extremely sensitive and fragile ecosystems in southwest China, where the biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg) is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the litterfall deposition, accumulation, and soil migration of Hg in an evergreen-deciduous broadleaf karst forest using high-resolution sampling and stable...

Plant communities strongly influence soil microbial communities and, in turn, soil carbon (C) cycling. Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an important parameter for predicting soil C accumulation, yet how plant and soil microbial community traits influence microbial CUE remains poorly understood. Here, we determined how soil microbial CUE is...

Managed and natural vegetation restorations are two vital measures of land restoration; however, their effects on soil microbial communities at a large scale are not clearly understood. Hence, changes in the microbial community composition after 15 years of vegetation restoration along a climatic gradient in the subtropical karst region of Southwes...

Increasing plant species diversity benefits soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation in forest ecosystems, but how microbial necromass contributes to SOC accumulation in response to plant species diversity and the underlying mechanisms have not been well explored. In the present study, 45 plots covering a natural gradient of plant species diversity a...

To investigate the mechanisms underlying effects of biochar and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) addition on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions during composting, this paper conducted a systematic study on mineral nitrogen (N), dissolved organic carbon (C) and N, sources of N2O, and functional genes. Biochar and CaCO3 addition decreased N2O emissions by 26.5–4...

Introduction Leaf functional traits constitute a crucial component of plant functionality, providing insights into plants’ adaptability to the environment and their regulatory capacity in complex habitats. The response of leaf traits to environmental factors at the community level has garnered significant attention. Nevertheless, an examination of...

Despite numerous studies on the response of vegetation change to climate variation, they have mainly been based on annual mean temperature and annual mean precipitation, and have failed to reveal the impact of climate on the inter-annual variation of vegetation in different geomorphic zones based on non-linear methods and considering daily low and...

Satellite remote sensing of vegetation has indicated that vegetation greenness has increased globally. However, the feedback mechanisms of vegetation restoration on eco-hydrological functions remain unclear, especially in fragile ecosystems. In this study, twelve three-dimensional hillslope plots with different vegetation restoration strategies wer...

The karst region is one of the fragile ecological regions in the world. Under the background of global climate change, the karst region in Southwest China is highly sensitive and vulnerable to changes in climate, has become a hotspot of vegetation restoration. Improving soil quality is the key to enhancing the ability of ecosystems to cope with cli...

Forest expansion has been observed in China over the past decades, but the typically applied coarse resolution satellite data does not reveal spatial details about China’s forest transition. By using three decades of satellite observations at a 30-m spatial resolution, we reveal here the complex spatiotemporal patterns of individual forest stands f...

The stability of soil organic matter (SOM) plays a critical role in soil carbon (C) dynamics under global warming. However, the factors influencing SOM stability, particularly the significance of bedrock geochemistry and its hierarchical relationship with climate and soil properties, remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we conducted a stu...

Mosses form a ground layer with a thickness of nearly 1 cm during the first decade of vegetation restoration, but their effects on the belowground microbial community and soil properties and the associated soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) accumulation in subtropical areas are unclear. Here, we measured soil C and N variables (soil organic C [SOC],...

Legume is an important type of plant functional group that can provide a myriad of ecosystem services. In general, the legume can promote the developments of soil fertility, soil biota, and other plants due to its ability to fix nitrogen. In practice, the legume-rhizobium system is one of the most ancient and successful biotic management strategies...

Knowledge of temporal variations in sediment sources is necessary to identify the principal sources of sediment for effective implementation of soil conservation measures and to improve the calibration and validation of process-based soil erosion models. Quantitative information on sediment provenance is often limited in karst regions because of th...

With the implementation of large‐scale ecological restoration projects, Southwest China has become one of the fastest forest growth areas in the world in terms of vegetation cover and above‐ground biomass (AGB). It is expected to be a potential area for achieving the carbon neutrality target in China. Accurate estimation of forest AGB is becoming a...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been found to help plants adapt to water deficit conditions. However, it still lacks filed evidence on how AMF affect plant physiology and soil microbial communities under natural extreme drought events. Here, we conducted an AMF-inoculation and legume-intercropping (Medicago sativa) field experiment in a for...

Water ages in plant transpiration reveal important processes of water dynamics in soil‐plant‐atmosphere continuum, which is regulated by water variability and availability in both precipitation inputs and root zone. However, the impacts of climate patterns and rooting depth on water age dynamics in transpiration are inadequately investigated. In th...

Ecosystem conditions at the regional level are critical factors for environmental management, public awareness, and land use decision making. Regional ecosystem conditions may be examined from the perspectives of ecosystem health, vulnerability, and security, as well as other conceptual frameworks. Vigor, organization, and resilience (VOR) and pres...

Introduction: Soil carbon and nutrient contents and their stoichiometric characteristics play a vital role in indicating plant growth and element balance, which can be used to indicate nutrient limitation. However, it has been less studied about their driving factors within forest soils at the regional scale in southern China. Methods: In this stud...

Plant species diversity (PSD) regulates ecosystem structure and functions, and is a key issue we need to consider when design vegetation restoration projects. Increasing PSD has been shown to promote or decrease soil nitrogen (N) availability, but the underlying mechanisms have not been well explored. Here, 45 plots with the Shannon–Weiner indices...

Aquatic karst landscapes are highly heterogeneous and vulnerable to environmental conditions due to carbonate rock dissolution by flowing water, freshwater movement and sediment transport. However, the landscape metrics commonly used in landscape ecology do not consider the spatial distribution of carbonate rocks in karst watersheds because these m...

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are key parameters determining the fate of C and N in soils. Atmospheric N deposition has been found to heavily impact multiple soil C and N transformations, but we lack understanding of the responses of CUE and NUE to N deposition, and it remains uncertain whether responses ma...

Aims Slope position affects soil nutrients and plant diversity, thereby altering arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities. However, the effect of slope position on the relationship between plant diversity, soil nutrients, and AMF communities remains unclear. Methods We characterized soil physicochemical properties, plant diversity, and the c...

Considering the crucial role of soil diazotrophs and root arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soil nutrient cycling during ecosystem restoration, diazotroph and AMF communities may be determined by slope position. However, the effect of slope position on diazotroph and AMF abundance, diversity, and community composition of karst ecosystems remain...

Grain for Green project could result in high evapotranspiration (ET), exacerbate water shortage, and intensify conflicts in water demand between ecosystems and humans in many water‐limited areas. However, it is still unclear how vegetation restoration would influence ET in humid karst regions where abundant precipitation but quick leakage. Particul...

Purpose Changes in climate and land use may disrupt the soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycles, which affect the availability of essential nutrients differently, including soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). Nevertheless, lithologic impact on soil C:N:P stoichiometry over a broad climatic gra...

Soil nitrogen (N) transformations play key roles in ecosystem productivity and other functions of terrestrial ecosystems via regulating soil N availability. Although the effects of elevated atmospheric N deposition on soil N transformations have been intensively investigated, it remains unclear whether the effects are mediated by topography, which...

A large-scale greening and forest expansion has been observed in China over the past decades, which has accelerated since around 2010. This has been inferred by the use of satellite data, however with too coarse spatial resolution to reveal spatial details about China’s forest transition. By using three decades of dense satellite observations at a...

Lithology has such an important effect on the sustainability of soil carbon (C) pools. Forests are an important part of terrestrial C sinks; yet, it is unclear whether their soil carbon sensitivity to temperature changes is regulated by lithology, especially in karst ecosystems, which are widely distributed globally. Along a climate gradient in the...

Asymbiotic N2 fixation (ANF) is a major nitrogen (N) input pathway to terrestrial ecosystems. However, there is considerable uncertainty about how lithology affects ANF. Here, we measured ANF rates in soil, litter, and moss in forests underlain by limestone (limestone forest), dolomite (dolomite forest), and clasolite (clasolite forest), respective...

How land use changes and geomorphologic zones impact on vegetation nonlinear trends remains unclear in economically developed areas with complicated terrain. This paper explores the nonlinear trends of vegetation changes with NDVI in the Yangtze River basin, China and further analyzes the effect of geomorphologic zones and land use changes on the n...