Male, female, and mixed‐sex poplar plantations support divergent soil microbial communities

Abstract Males and females of dioecious plants have sex‐specific adaptations to diverse habitats. The effects of inter‐ and intrasexual interactions in poplar plantations on composition, structure, and function of soil microbiota have not been explored in degraded areas. We conducted a series of greenhouse and field experiments to investigate how belowground competition, soil microbial communities, and seasonal variation nitrogen content differ among female, male, and mixed‐sex Populus cathayana plantations. In the greenhouse experiment, female neighbors suppressed the growth of males under optimal nitrogen conditions. However, male neighbors enhanced stable isotope ratio of nitrogen (δ15N) of females under intersexual competition. In the field, the root length density, root area density, and biomass of fine roots were lower in female plantations than in male or mixed‐sex plantations. Bacterial networks of female, male, and mixed‐sex plantations were characterized by different composition of hub nodes, including connectors, modules, and network hubs. The sex composition of plantations altered bacterial and fungal community structures according to Bray‐Curtis distances, with 44% and 65% of variance explained by the root biomass, respectively. The total soil nitrogen content of mixed‐sex plantation was higher than that in female plantation in spring and summer. The mixed‐sex plantation also had a higher β‐1,4‐N‐acetyl‐glucosaminidase activity in summer and a higher nitrification rate in autumn than the other two plantations. The seasonal soil N content, nitrification rate, and root distribution traits demonstrated spatiotemporal niche separation in the mixed‐sex plantation. We argue that a strong female–female competition and limited nitrogen content could strongly impede plant growth and reduce the resistance of monosex plantations to climate change and the mixed‐sex plantations constitutes a promising way to restore degraded land.