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Climate warming and nitrogen deposition increase leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial diversity
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  • Lu Bai,
  • Yunzhuo Wen,
  • Guodong Han,
  • Zhuwen Xu,
  • Zhongwu Wang,
  • Jinglei Tang,
  • Lin Jiang,
  • Haiyan Ren
Lu Bai
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
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Yunzhuo Wen
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
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Guodong Han
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
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Zhongwu Wang
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
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Jinglei Tang
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Lin Jiang
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Haiyan Ren
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University

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Abstract

The plant microbiome significantly influences plant health and ecosystem functions, yet its response to environmental change and links to plant diversity are not fully understood. We investigated the impacts of climate warming and nitrogen deposition on leaf epiphytic and endophytic bacterial communities in Stipa breviflora and Cleistogenes songorica over an 18-year field experiment in temperate desert steppe. Results showed increased diversity in both leaf bacterial types, with epiphytic biomass rising and endophytic biomass falling due to distinct mechanisms. Epiphytic diversity and biomass increased with leaf temperature and transpiration rate, endophyte diversity increased with leaf carbon and nitrogen concentrations, and endophytic biomass related to leaf nitrogen and phosphorus levels. Structural equation modeling revealed both epiphytic and endophytic bacterial diversity correlated with reduced plant diversity, which in turn was linked to increased leaf bacterial diversity, indicating a complex response of phyllosphere bacteria to global changes in perennial grassland ecosystems.