Effects of Different Ecological Restoration Paradigms on Soil Microbial Metabolic Limitation in a Tropical Coral Island

Bibliographic Data

ID21648422
AuthorsWentao Wei (0000-0002-9466-9922, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Xiaoxiang He (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Chaolong Pang (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Adnan Mustafa (0000-0003-2741-9672, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Yingxue Xuan (0009-0002-1236-8323, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Faming Wang (0000-0001-7144-2939, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Dongming Liu (0000-0003-4530-9530, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), H Ren (0000-0002-3744-8007, South China Botanical Garden), Qing Ye (0009-0009-7402-1182, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), Junhua Yan (0000-0002-9948-2358, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China), X L Lu (0000-0001-7720-6048, South China Botanical Garden, corresponding author), Xiankai Lu (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou China)
Year2026
Volume37
Issue7
Pages2558-2569
Publication date2026-04-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.70258
OpenAlexW4415342452
LanguageEN
References cited69

Soil microbial metabolism reflects the balance between microbial resource demands and nutrient availability. In tropical coral islands, nutrient status is important for selecting restoration paradigms. However, soil microbial metabolic limitations in nutrient‐poor coral island ecosystems remain unclear. In this study, we investigated soil microbial metabolic limitations in different ecological restoration strategies, using six planting patterns from controls (CK) without plants to monoculture and mixed patterns. The results showed that tropical coral island exhibited low soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) content, along with low activities of β‐1,4‐glucosidase (BG), β‐1,4‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), and L ‐leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) enzymes. The Monoculture Pisonia grandis ( P. grandis ) exhibited a lower microbial investment in C and N acquisition enzymes compared to the mixed planting, indicating lower demand for C and N in the monoculture. Enzymatic vector analysis revealed predominant C and N limitations in soil microbial metabolism, with the monoculture (notably P. grandis ) showing lower limitation than the mixed plantings. For phosphorus (P) acquisition enzymes, however, there was no significant difference between CK and planted plots, and the vector angle was less than 55°, indicating P is not a limiting factor in the coral islands. The partial least squares (PLS) path model explained 57% of N and 61% of C limitation in microbial metabolism, which were mainly regulated predominantly by soil nutrients. We suggest that monoculture paradigms seem more effective to establish pioneer vegetation than species‐rich plantings during early restoration stage. Nevertheless, once soil nutrient accumulation satisfies microbial demands, mixed‐species strategies could be selected to enhance biodiversity recovery in coral islands

Coral · Ecosystem · Microbial population biology · Monoculture · Nutrient · Phosphorus · Restoration Ecology · Soil carbon · Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics · Rangeland and Wildlife Management · Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

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