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The soil microbial food web plays a vital role in soil health, nutrient cycling and agricultural productivity. Notably, there is a distinct paucity of information regarding the effects of heavy metal contamination on trophic-level interactions within the microbial food web of agricultural soils, which experience appreciably metal contamination worldwide. Herein, we investigated trophic interactions among predators (protists), their preys (bacteria and fungi) and competitors (nematodes) under four metal contamination levels using high-throughput sequencing and a laboratory verification experiment. Metal contamination decreased growth of protist-preferential prey (e.g., small-sized and gram-negative bacteria), increased the growth of protist-nonpreferential prey (e.g., pathogenic fungi and Actinobacteria), and had a limited effect on the soil protist-competitor (i.e., nematodes). This resulted in a considerable decrease in the diversity and abundance of protistan consumers and a re-arrangement of their interactions with other organisms. From a systemic view, the direct link was weaker between heavy metal contamination and the protist community than the indirect linkage, i.e., metal-induced changes in the prey community. We further validated these results with laboratory incubation trials that documented growth inhibition of protist (Colpoda) and protist-preferential prey (Spingomonas) versus growth stimulation of protist-nonpreferential prey (Arthrobacter) under metal contamination. These findings indicate that metal contamination collapses trophic-level interactions within the soil microbial food web via bottom-up regulation, providing important implications for managing trophic interactions to maintain agricultural ecosystem services under the challenge of worldwide metal contamination.

Plant roots are the primary source of soil organic carbon (C) and critically support the growth and activities of microbes in the rhizosphere. Climate change factors may, however, modify root-microbial interactions and impact C dynamics in the rhizosphere. Yet, the direction and magnitude of interactive climate change effects, as well as the underlying mechanisms, remain unclear. Here we show evidence from a field experiment demonstrating that warming and precipitation changes strengthen root controls over litter decomposition in a semi-arid grassland. While warming and precipitation reduction suppressed microbial decomposition of root litter regardless of the root presence, precipitation increase stimulated litter decomposition only in the absence of roots, suggesting that plant competition for water constraints the activities of saprophytic microbes. Root presence increased microbial biomass but reduced microbial activities such as respiration, C cycling enzymes and litter decomposition, indicating that roots exert differential effects on microbes through altering C or water availability. In addition, nitrogen (N) input significantly reduced microbial biomass and microbial activities (respiration). Together, these results showed that alterations in soil moisture induced by climate change drivers critically modulate root controls over microbial decomposition in soil. Our findings suggest that warming-enhanced plant water utilization, combined with N-induced suppression of microbes, may provide a unique mechanism through which moderate increases in precipitation, warming and N input interactively suppress microbial decomposition, thereby facilitating short-term soil C sequestration in the arid and semi-arid grasslands.

Low ionic concentrations and the chemical stability of the ions involved to water are considered necessary for hydrated ionic solution lubricants. Herein, an ultra-high concentration of chemically active ZnCl2 aqueous solution (up to 20 mol L− 1) is first reported to be used as a liquid superlubricant, with trace amounts of Zn2+ hydrolyzed to generate Zn(OH)2 (i.e., hard clusters) in addition to Zn2+ hydrated with water (i.e., soft clusters), resulting in the formation of heterogeneous phases with a mixture of soft and hard clusters. The coefficient of friction (COF) inversely correlates with the molar concentration of ZnCl2, where the COF of the optimized samples can be as low as 0.006 with a stable macroscopic superlubricated state; the particle size distribution of clusters and their corresponding Spans, however, are positively correlated with the molar concentration, suggesting that asymmetric contact between these unequal-sized soft and hard clusters contributes greatly to the reduction of interfacial shear resistances. This ultra-high-concentration aqueous solution superlubricant not only breaks the convention but also deepens the mechanism of liquid superlubricity from the perspectives of cluster size distribution and interactions between clusters, providing a new insight into the design of advanced water-based ionic solution superlubricants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding additives (e.g., carbon dots, CDs) to liquid lubricants is an effective method for enhancing their load‐bearing capacity and friction reduction. However, it is challenging to simultaneously impart high load‐bearing capacity and superlubricity for them (e.g., ionic liquid analogs, ILAs) through this strategy due to strong Coulombic interactions. With CDs as a competing ligand operon, the cluster size distribution can be expanded, conferring superlubricity with ultrahigh load‐bearing capacity (>705 MPa, the highest value of CDs‐based superlubricious materials thus far) for CDs/ILAs. In particular, methodologies such as Raman, 1H‐NMR, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and laser particle size analysis are employed to characterize the evolution of their H‐bonding interactions and particle size distribution. CDs can act as competing ligands and enable CDs/ILAs to form systems with ultra‐low coefficient of friction and wear consisting of a mixture of large and small clusters. The mixed and expanded size clusters facilitate the reduction of the viscosity for CDs/ILAs under shear, thereby reducing the interfacial shear resistance during superlubricity, while the CDs within them efficiently transfer the normal bearing loads. The progress is made from the perspective of cluster particle size distribution rather than individual additive properties, providing a new avenue for designing ILAs‐based superlubricious materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional traits are indicators of the responses and adaptation of organisms to environmental changes and cascade to a series of ecosystem functions. The functional traits of soil animals are sensitive to environmental factors and may characterize and predict the changes of ecosystem functions. Multiple dimensions of biodiversity that combing species; phylogenetic ; and functional diversity improves the understanding of distribution patterns; community assembly mechanisms and ecosystem functions of soil animals. In this review; we listed the categories of soil animal functional traits and their ecological significance; and summarized current researches on the responses of soil animal communities to environmental changes and the community assembly processes based on trait-based approaches. We proposed to strengthen the study on the impacts of eco-evolution processes of biotic interactions to soil animal functional traits; establish the database of soil animal functional traits; and apply trait-based approaches in the ecological restoration in the future; which would benefit soil biodiversity conservation and sustainability of soil eco-systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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