Fig. 3. Effect of grazing exclusion and grassland type on soil fungi phylum and class community composition. Fig(A) shows the composition of the soil fungal phylum in the 0-5 cm soil layer; Figure (B) shows the composition of the soil fungal phylum in the 5-10 cm soil layer; Figure (C) shows the composition of the soil fungal phyla in the 0-5 cm soil layer; Figure (D) shows the composition of the soil fungal phyla in the 5-10 cm soil layer. TD, temperate desert; TS, temperate steppe; MM, mountain meadow. where * represents significant and ** represents highly significant.
3.4. Soil fungal community diversity as affected by grazing exclusion and grassland type
Soil fungal α-diversity was not significantly altered by grazing exclusion, grassland type or the interaction between the two in either the 0-5 cm or the 5-10 cm soil layers (P > 0.05; Fig. 4). In addition, the Chao1 index was significantly higher (P< 0.05) in mountain meadows than in temperate deserts in the 0-5 cm soil layer.