Optimized bio-fertilization drives the synergistic recovery of vegetation productivity and soil multifunctionality by reshaping fungal interaction patterns in degraded alpine mines

BACKGROUND: Restoring degraded alpine mining ecosystems is critically constrained by soil infertility and the functional decoupling of plant-soil-microbe interactions. While optimized bio-fertilization represents a promising restoration strategy, the mechanisms linking vegetation recovery, shifts in fungal community structure, and soil multifunctionality (SMF) remain poorly understood. METHODS: We conducted a three-year field restoration experiment at the Muli coal mine on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to evaluate the integrated responses of plant communities and soil functional networks to various fertilization regimes. RESULTS: = 0.67) further elucidated a cascading pathway where fertilization directly promoted fungal diversity (standardized path coefficient β = 0.76) and initiated vegetation establishment, which subsequently facilitated shifts in the fungal community structure and interaction networks. CONCLUSIONS: The optimized co-application of microbial agents and fertilizers facilitates ecosystem reconstruction by orchestrating the coupling between vegetation density and fungal stability. This provides a theoretical basis for the sustainable restoration of severely degraded alpine mines.