International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.6, 267-276 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmec 267 Research Insight Open Access Nutrient Cycling and Decomposition Processes in Grassland Ecosystems JiongFu Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory for Crop Molecular Breeding, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: jiong.fu@hitar.org International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.5 doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2025.15.0027 Received: 12 Sep., 2025 Accepted: 24 Oct., 2025 Published: 11 Nov., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Fu, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Fu J., 2025, Nutrient cycling and decomposition processes in grassland ecosystems, International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 15(6): 267-276 (doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2025.15.0027) Abstract This study analyzed the cycling mechanisms of major nutrients in grasslands, the decomposition processes of litter and soil organic matter, the ecological functions of microorganisms and soil animals, as well as the regulatory effects of climate change and human interference on nutrient cycling. Research has found that grassland ecosystems, with their unique vegetation structure, climatic conditions and soil environment, play a significant role in the global biogeochemical cycle. As one of the largest types of terrestrial ecosystems in terms of area, grasslands undertake key functions such as carbon storage, soil conservation, energy flow and food supply, while the nutrient cycle and decomposition process constitute the core mechanism for their stable operation. In the grassland, plants, microorganisms and soil animals achieve the redistribution of key nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon through multi-scale and multi-pathway interactions. Meanwhile, the decomposition of litter, rhizosphere processes and the physical and chemical environment of the soil jointly regulate the speed and direction of nutrient release, thereby maintaining grassland productivity and system resilience. This research is of great significance for understanding the sustainable state of grassland ecosystems, predicting future functional changes and formulating management strategies, providing a theoretical basis for grassland protection and ecological management. Keywords Grassland ecosystem; Nutritional cycle; Decomposition of fallen leaves; Microbial processes; Soil animals 1 Introduction Grassland ecosystems are one of the core components of global terrestrial ecosystems, distributed across vast areas such as the Eurasian steppe, the American savanna, and the African savanna. This type of ecosystem usually features moderate precipitation, high evaporation, open soil structure, and strong seasonality in plant growth, making its nutrient cycling mode more open and sensitive than that of forests and wetlands. The primary production of grasslands mainly relies on perennial grasses and legumes. Its productivity level is not only closely related to climatic factors, but also highly dependent on the cycling efficiency of nutrient elements among plants - litter - soil. In the grassland ecosystem, nutrient cycling mainly includes the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle and the migration and transformation of trace elements (Bai and Cotrufo, 2022). The redistribution process of these elements is jointly driven by plant absorption, litter return, microbial decomposition, soil-animal disturbance and gas exchange, etc. Among them, the decomposition of litter and the mineralization of soil organic matter are regarded as the key links of grassland nutrient regeneration, and are an important basis for maintaining grassland soil fertility and promoting plant renewal (Liu et al., 2023). Compared with forests, grasslands rely more on the circulation pathways of underground parts (root biomass, root secretions, rhizosphere microorganisms). This "underground dominant" circulation model enables grasslands to have a certain degree of resilience when dealing with disturbances such as drought and grazing. In recent years, global changes have had a profound impact on the nutrient cycling and decomposition process of grasslands. The increase in temperature alters the metabolic rate and enzyme activity of microorganisms. The sharp fluctuations in precipitation patterns lead to periodic stress of soil moisture. Nitrogen deposition and anthropogenic grazing have altered the structure of plant communities and the nutrient status of soil. Especially in the context of the increasing frequency of drought, the decomposition process of the grassland system may show a significant slowdown, thereby causing a series of changes such as the accumulation of litter and the weakening of
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==