Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a devastating forest disease that severely impacts pine trees, with widespread outbreaks leading to catastrophic damage in pine forests worldwide. Our study aims to investigate the dynamics of PWD infection on soil physicochemical properties and biological activities, as well as the interrelationships between them. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 10 cm and 10 to 20 cm depths in subtropical Pinus massoniana (Masson pine) forests with PWD infection years of 0 (non-infection), 6, 10, and 16 years. The physicochemical properties, microbial biomass, and enzymatic activities of these soil samples were measured. The results revealed that soil non-capillary porosity, clay, microbial biomass carbon and microbial biomass nitrogen decreased significantly in 6 years forests. Available potassium consistently decreased with longer invasion periods, while soil polyphenol oxidase, leucine amino peptidase, and available phosphorous peaked in 6 years forests and then declined over time. The soil physicochemical properties, biological activities all decreased as soil depth increased. Redundancy analysis and Mantel tests underscored the critical role of Total potassium, pH, Total phosphorous, and bulk density in shaping microbial activities. This study demonstrated that PWD infection significantly effect on soil physicochemical properties, microbial biomass, and enzymatic activities with the chronosequence progresses. These finding contribute to a deeper understanding of how invasive pathogens like PWD can reshape soil environments, with implications for forest conservation and restoration practices.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) severely damages the health, stability, and functions of pine forests. However, empirical evidence regarding the impact of PWD on multiple ecosystem services in these forest ecosystems remains limited. This study investigated five ecosystem services, namely carbon sequestration, water conservation, soil nutrient accumulation, biomass nutrient accumulation and understory plant diversity in subtropical Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) forests, and quantified their trade-offs along varying ages of PWD infection (uninfected (0 years), 6, 10, and 16 years). The results showed that PWD infection significantly affected ecosystem services in Masson pine forests, with decreased carbon sequestration, water conservation, and biomass nutrient accumulation in 6 years of PWD infection forests. As the duration of PWD infection increased, the composite score of ecosystem services initially decreased, then increased, and finally decreased again. In contrast, soil conservation and understory plant diversity showed an initial increase, followed by a decline. Moreover, PWD infection increased the trade-offs among ecosystem services, with the highest trade-offs for 10 years of infected forests. PWD infection altered the trade-offs between understory plant diversity and other ecosystem services from low to high levels. Our results suggest that forest management should be strengthened to accelerate the recovery of ecosystem services while controlling PWD infection in these disturbed forests.