The widespread distribution of wolf poison (Stellera chamaejasme L.), spanning from southern Russia to southwestern China and the western Himalayas, contributes to its prevalence as an invasive species in grassland ecosystems. Its extensive range, coupled with its ability to thrive in harsh environments, enables it to rapidly colonize grasslands. Once established, it rapidly spreads and dominates large areas. This process inevitably leads to grassland degradation over time, thereby exerting significant impacts on both ecology and economy. In China, grasslands (26.45 million ha, 27.5% of land area) face severe degradation, with more than 90% impacted by overgrazing and climate change. Stellera chamaejasme infestations exceed 1.4 million ha in Qinghai, 546,700 ha in Gansu, and 133,000 ha in Inner Mongolia, causing annual forage losses of 137,500 Mg and economic damages of 15 to 20 million yuan in Gansu alone. These impacts threaten ecosystem stability and pastoral livelihoods. Therefore, research on the mechanisms of spread of invasive plants is crucial. In this comprehensive description, we investigated the effects of S. chamaejasme on plant communities and herbivore interactions. Our research showed how this species successfully invades grasslands and establishes itself as a dominant species. Stellera chamaejasme enhances its expansion by altering soil physicochemical properties, reducing nutrient cycling, and increasing pathogenic fungi abundance while enhancing microbial diversity, creating self-favoring soil conditions. With high genetic diversity, robust reproductive capacity, and potent allelopathic effects, it suppresses neighboring vegetation and escapes herbivory due to toxicity, accelerating invasion. These interrelated traits facilitate the rapid invasion and spread of S. chamaejasme on grasslands, ultimately leading to its dominance. This trend poses a significant threat to the health and stability of the grassland ecosystem. Future research should delve into the ecological adaptability and allelopathic mechanisms of S. chamaejasme, aiming to develop effective management strategies for controlling its spread and promoting grassland recovery and biodiversity conservation.

Fungal communities can be used as indicators of various environmental processes in forest ecosystems. The diversity of these communities is linked to aboveground plants and soil properties. We assessed fungal diversity at four Norway spruce sampling sites that were growing on fertile mineral soils (Oxalidosa) in northwestern Latvia. Three sites were managed-a three-year-old clear-cut and fifty- and eighty-five-year-old stands; one site was unmanaged-a naturally regenerated site after wind damage in 1969. For metabarcoding, we used a fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) and high throughput sequencing with the Ion Torrent platform. Our results showed high operational taxonomic unit richness in the samples, with notable variation in community composition between individual plots both within and among sites, with the highest being in managed, middle-aged stands and the lowest in unmanaged. Significant differences in the diversity of soil fungal communities were not detected between the sites. Redundancy analysis indicated that pH, soil organic matter, organic carbon, and nitrogen were the most important soil variables that explained the variation in fungal communities. The unmanaged stand differed notably by community composition. This study highlights the importance of monitoring forest soil environmental parameters and fungal communities to gain a more comprehensive assessment of forestry management regimes.

Simple Summary Microorganisms and their enzymes are crucial to ensuring soil quality, health, and carbon sequestration. Their numerous reactions are essential for biogeochemical cycles. However, a comprehensive review is lacking to summarize the latest findings in agricultural and enzymatic research. Although the relationships between soil enzyme activities and different soil ecosystems, such as arctic and permafrost regions, tropics and subtropics, tundra, steppes, etc., have been intensively investigated, particularly in the context of climate changes, only a few reviews summarize the impact of climate change on soil enzyme activity. This review aims to highlight the main groups of microbial enzymes found in soil (such as alpha-glucosidases and beta-glucosidases, phosphatases, ureases, N-acetyl-glucosaminidases, peptidases, etc.), their role in the global nutrient cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, carbon sequestration, and the influence of intensive agriculture on microbial enzymatic activity, and the variations in enzyme activity across different climate zones and soil ecosystems. Furthermore, the review will emphasize the importance of microbial enzymes for soil fertility and present both current challenges and future perspectives.Abstract The extracellular enzymes secreted by soil microorganisms play a pivotal role in the decomposition of organic matter and the global cycles of carbon (C), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N), also serving as indicators of soil health and fertility. Current research is extensively analyzing these microbial populations and enzyme activities in diverse soil ecosystems and climatic regions, such as forests, grasslands, tropics, arctic regions and deserts. Climate change, global warming, and intensive agriculture are altering soil enzyme activities. Yet, few reviews have thoroughly explored the key enzymes required for soil fertility and the effects of abiotic factors on their functionality. A comprehensive review is thus essential to better understand the role of soil microbial enzymes in C, P, and N cycles, and their response to climate changes, soil ecosystems, organic farming, and fertilization. Studies indicate that the soil temperature, moisture, water content, pH, substrate availability, and average annual temperature and precipitation significantly impact enzyme activities. Additionally, climate change has shown ambiguous effects on these activities, causing both reductions and enhancements in enzyme catalytic functions.