Different vegetation restoration methods may affect the soil’s physicochemical properties and microbial communities. However, it is not known how the microbial network’s complexity of the bacterial and fungal communities respond to short-term vegetation restoration. We conducted a short-term ecological restoration experiment to reveal the response of the soil’s microbial community and microbial network’s stability to initial vegetation restoration during the restoration of the degraded grassland ecosystem. The two restoration methods (sowing alfalfa (Medicago sativa, AF) and smooth brome (Bromus inermis, SB)) had no significant effect on the alpha diversity of the fungal community, but the SB significantly increased the alpha diversity of the soil surface bacterial community (p < 0.01). The results of NMDS showed that the soil’s fungal and bacterial communities were altered by a short-term vegetation restoration, and they showed that the available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), and nitrate nitrogen (nitrate-N) were closely related to changes in bacterial and fungal communities. Moreover, a short-term vegetation restoration significantly increased the complexity and stability of fungi ecological networks, but the opposite was the case with the bacteria. Our findings confirm that ecological restoration by sowing may be favorable to the amelioration of soil fungi complexity and stability in the short-term. Such findings may have important implications for soil microbial processes in vegetation recovery.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation can promote plant growth, but specific research on the difference in the symbiosis effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant combination is not yet in-depth. Therefore, this study selected Medicago sativa L., Bromus inermis Leyss, and Festuca arundinacea Schreb., which were commonly used for restoring degraded land in China to inoculate with three AMF separately, to explore the effects of different AMF inoculation on the growth performance and nutrient absorption of different plants and to provide a scientific basis for the research and development of the combination of mycorrhiza and plants. We set up four treatments with inoculation Entrophospora etunicata (EE), Funneliformis mosseae (FM), Rhizophagus intraradices (RI), and non-inoculation. The main research findings are as follows: the three AMF formed a good symbiotic relationship with the three grassland plants, with RI and FM having more significant inoculation effects on plant height, biomass, and tiller number. Compared with C, the aboveground biomass of Medicago sativa L., Bromus inermis Leyss, and Festuca arundinacea Schreb. inoculated with AMF increased by 101.30–174.29%, 51.67–74.14%, and 110.67–174.67%. AMF inoculation enhanced the plant uptake of N, P, and K, and plant P and K contents were significantly correlated with plant biomass. PLS-PM analyses of three plants all showed that AMF inoculation increased plant nutrient uptake and then increased aboveground biomass and underground biomass by increasing plant height and root tillering. This study showed that RI was a more suitable AMF for combination with grassland degradation restoration grass species and proposed the potential mechanism of AMF–plant symbiosis to increase yield.

To clarify the role and mechanism of sod-seeding patterns in improving soil fertility and mitigating nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions in peach orchards, we conducted a study since 2023. Taking clean tillage (CK) as the control, three sod-seeding patterns—Trifolium repens–Lolium perenne mixed sowing (TPr), T. repens single sowing (Tr), and L. perenne single sowing (Pr)—were tested to analyze soil physicochemical properties, nitrogen cycle functional genes, and N₂O emission-related genes, and to explore the driving mechanism of N₂O mitigation. Results showed that all three sod-seeding patterns significantly reduced soil pH and bulk density, increased soil electrical conductivity and mean aggregate size, and improved soil nutrient status compared with CK; TPr performed best, significantly enhancing soil enzyme activities related to carbon and nitrogen cycles. Sod-seeding patterns had no significant effect on genes involved in assimilatory nitrate reduction, denitrification, or nitrification, but significantly increased dissimilatory nitrate reduction (DNRA) and nitrogen degradation gene abundances, and reduced N₂O-producing gene (amoA + amoB, nirS + nirK) abundances. Field monitoring indicated TPr reduced N₂O emissions by 34.0%, 35.7%, and 41.0%, relative to CK, Pr, and Tr, respectively. Structural equation modeling revealed that sod-seeding reduced N₂O emissions mainly by decreasing soil NH₄⁺-N content and nirS + nirK abundance. In conclusion, sod-seeding patterns improve soil fertility and mitigate N₂O emissions in peach orchards, with TPr showing the best comprehensive benefits.

Revegetation with herbaceous plants has been effective in neutralizing land degradation; however, there is limited understanding about the water use characteristics and influences on soil water dynamics of revegetated species for ecological restoration. Hence, the stable isotopic composition of xylem water, soil water and groundwater was measured to investigate the water uptake patterns of Bromus inermis and Medicago sativa in the semi-arid agro-pasture ecotone in North China. Based on hierarchical clustering analysis of soil volumetric water content (SWC), soil was classified into four layers (0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm) as different water sources. The main sources for Bromus inermis were from 20–30 cm (27.0%) and groundwater (24.2%) in May, to 0–5 cm (33.9%) and 5–10 cm (26.8%) in June, became groundwater (54.7%) in July, and then to 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm in August (23.2% and 20.6%) and September (35.1% and 32.1%). Medicago sativa were from groundwater (52.9%) and 20–30 cm (32.4%) in May, to 0–5 cm in June (61.0%), July (39.9%), August (47.6%), and then to 5–10 cm (77.8%) in September. Regression analysis showed a negative relationship between SWC and contribution of water uptake (CWU) (CWU = −2.284 × SWC + 60.833), when the difference in water isotopes was small among soil layers. Finally, the two grassland types showed distinct soil water dynamics shaped by species-specific water use strategies and associated soil pore properties. These results indicate that water use characteristics are species specific and a species combination with less water competition is recommended for sustainable revegetation of degraded land.

Traditional clean tillage in peach orchards leads to soil degradation and nitrogen (N) loss. While inter-row grassing can optimize N cycling, the specific rhizosphere microbial mechanisms involved have not been fully understood. This study investigated how different inter-row grassing modes influence N availability through microbial communities in a peach orchard. The experiment included a monoculture of Trifolium repens L. (Tr), a monoculture of Lolium perenne L. (Pr), their mixture (TPr), and clean tillage (CK). By combining soil physicochemical analyses, metagenomic sequencing, functional gene quantification, and multivariate statistics, the study systematically examined the impacts of inter-row grassing modes on soil N cycling. The results showed that inter-row grassing modes played a significant role in reshaping N processes. Pr enhanced mineralization and nitrification, increasing inorganic N through specific genes (amoA, hao). Tr, on the other hand, promoted diazotrophs (Bradyrhizobium) and dissimilatory nitrate-reducing bacteria, enhancing biological N fixation and retention. TPr combined these benefits, leading to enhanced nitrification, increased labile carbon, and elevated enzyme activities, creating a complex microbe–gene network that mediated nitrification and denitrification. Overall, inter-row grassing modulates rhizosphere functions by enhancing N cycling through a “carbon input–microbial regulation” mechanism, offering an effective strategy for improving N use efficiency and promoting sustainable orchard management.

Alien invasive plants had a far-reaching impact on local vegetation and biodiversity, and the hazard of invasion was widely concerned. Field trial was conducted to discuss the establishment of yellow sweet clover and its interaction with local plant vegetation on a synthetical ecosystem patched with cultivated farmlands and wasted lands in northern China. The results showed the establishment for yellow sweet clover was quite different under the two land types. The density of seedlings in the wasted lands only reached up to 16.9% of that in the farmlands which flourished with annual large broad-leaf plants, like velvet weed (Abutilon theophrasti), jimson weed (Datura stramonium), and flower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum) at a higher frequency contrast with thin-leaf species in the wasted lands, e.g. Salsola collina, Humulus scandens. The two types of lands had a community similarity (C_J = 0.5135), but both significantly decreased with the increasing density of yellow sweet clover. On details, biomass, plants per square meters, and diversity, they were all less or lower in wasted lands compared to farmlands. After its establishment, soil characteristics and soil texture were also modified due to yellow sweet clover itself or environmental factors, e.g. a higher level of available nitrogen and soil organic matter. The results suggested that it is not easy for yellow sweet clover to establish on wasted lands under the suppression of native plants and adverse environmental factors; but it may flourish in the farmlands with competitive advantages at initial stage, though presented a stagnation after generations.