Warming Favors Fungal Partnerships in Dominant Plants but Bacterial Alliances in Subordinate Species

Summary statement In this brief communication, we examined the effects of 4‐year experimental warming on plant species‐specific root exudation dynamics and their associated rhizosphere microbial communities in a temperate grassland ecosystem in Inner Mongolia, China. Our results revealed that Artemisia scoparia exhibited greater sensitivity in carbon and nitrogen exudation rates compared to Stipa krylovii . Furthermore, we identified species‐specific interactions between root exudates and rhizosphere microbiomes: S. krylovii primarily established stronger associations with fungal communities, whereas A. scoparia showed tighter linkages with bacterial communities. These findings underscore the need for future research to investigate how global warming may differently affect above‐ and belowground processes across plant functional groups in grassland ecosystems, particularly with respect to plant‐microbe‐soil feedback mechanisms. These findings suggest that the rhizosphere of different plants recruits different microbial groups to cope with climate warming. These species‐specific compensatory mechanisms could have important implications for nutrient cycling dynamics and ecosystem stability in grasslands under future climate warming.