The Plateau pika, a native burrowing mammal in alpine ecosystems, induces significant alterations in both the diversity and functions of the above-ground plant community; however, their effects on the below-ground soil microbial community and its multifunctionality remain unclear. Here, we examined the impact of plateau pika disturbance on soil microbial diversity, composition, and network patterns and assessed the relationships of this microbial response with soil multifunctionality, including soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling, based on a field investigation of alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Results showed that as the distance from the pika holes decreased, moisture, soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and C:N ratios significantly decreased, while available potassium and phosphorus, nitrate contents, and soil multifunctionality increased. Pika disturbance increased soil bacterial and fungal diversity (e.g., Chao estimator, richness, and Shannon index), and altered the community composition, with a higher relative abundance of Actinobacterial and a lower relative abundance of Acidobacterial in disturbed habitats than in undisturbed habitats. The bacterial and fungal network complexity (including the node and edge numbers, linkage density, and average clustering coefficient) increased as the distance from the pika holes decreased. Network complexity explained most variations of soil multifunctionality, although there were significant linear positive relationships between microbial diversity, network complexity, and soil multifunctionality. These results indicated that plateau pika activity benefits the below-ground community diversity and soil multifunctionality of alpine grassland. This highlights the importance of microbial network complexity in linking the microbial community with soil multifunctionality.

中文翻译：

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穴居哺乳动物引起的土壤多功能性增强与高寒草甸微生物网络复杂性较高相关

高原鼠兔是高山生态系统中的本土穴居哺乳动物，它引起地上植物群落的多样性和功能的显着改变；然而，它们对地下土壤微生物群落及其多功能性的影响仍不清楚。在这里，我们基于高寒草地的实地调查，研究了高原鼠兔干扰对土壤微生物多样性、组成和网络模式的影响，并评估了这种微生物响应与土壤多功能性（包括土壤碳、氮和磷循环）的关系。在青藏高原。结果表明，随着距鼠兔洞距离的减小，土壤水分、土壤有机碳、溶解性有机碳、碳氮比显着降低，速效钾、速效磷、硝酸盐含量和土壤多功能性增加。鼠兔干扰增加了土壤细菌和真菌多样性（例如 Chao 估计量、丰富度和香农指数），并改变了群落组成，受干扰生境中的放线菌相对丰度高于未受干扰生境，而酸杆菌相对丰度较低。细菌和真菌网络的复杂性（包括节点和边数、连锁密度和平均聚类系数）随着距鼠兔洞距离的减小而增加。尽管微生物多样性、网络复杂性和土壤多功能性之间存在显着的线性正相关关系，但网络复杂性解释了土壤多功能性的大多数变化。这些结果表明，高原鼠兔活动有利于高寒草地地下群落多样性和土壤多功能性。这凸显了微生物网络复杂性在连接微生物群落与土壤多功能性方面的重要性。