{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T09:24:33Z","timestamp":1787217873371,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":106,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["42267007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42267007"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32460311"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32460311"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["42267007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42267007"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["32460311"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32460311"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi","award":["2026GXNSFAA00640022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2026GXNSFAA00640022"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi","award":["2025GXNSFAA069946"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025GXNSFAA069946"]}]},{"name":"Basic Research Fund of Guangxi Academy of Sciences","award":["CQZ-E-1912"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CQZ-E-1912"]}]},{"award":["CQZ-E-1912"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CQZ-E-1912"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/054x1kd82","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Basic Research Fund of Guangxi Institute of Botany","award":["26004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["26004"]}]},{"name":"Basic Research Fund of Guangxi Institute of Botany","award":["25007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25007"]}]},{"award":["26004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["26004"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ff97g12","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["25007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25007"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ff97g12","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fund of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain","award":["22-035-26"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22-035-26"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biochar has been used to improve soils and promote sustainable agricultural development. The effects of applying different doses of biochar on soil aggregate structure and stability, aggregate-associated microbial communities, aggregate carbon fractions, and underlying mechanisms in planted forest soil ecosystems remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the effects of biochar amendment (7 years) on carbon stabilization in plantation soils. The effects of biochar application (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) on water-stable aggregate distribution, stability indices such as mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and fractal dimension (D), aggregate-associated microbial communities (fungal and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs)), and carbon fractions such as soil organic carbon (SOC), easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) and black carbon (BC) were investigated based on a seven-year in situ field experiment in a Eucalyptus plantation in northern Guangxi. The results showed that after 7 years, biochar application significantly increased the proportion of macroaggregates (\u22650.25 mm). The MWD and GMD increased significantly with increasing biochar application rates, whereas D decreased significantly, indicating enhanced soil structural stability. Biochar significantly increased the abundance of fungi and bacteria across all aggregate size classes and changed the microbial community structure towards conditions that promoted increased carbon stabilization. Additionally, biochar application significantly increased both recalcitrant (ROC and BC) and labile carbon (EOC, POC, DOC, and MBC) in all aggregate fractions, with the largest increments in macroaggregates. Based on correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), we speculated that biochar might enhance the physical protection and chemical sequestration of organic carbon by optimizing the physical structure of the aggregates and synergizing with the microbial carbon pump. The 7-year application of biochar significantly enhanced the SOC content in plantation soils, primarily by increasing recalcitrant organic carbon, demonstrating that biochar application constitutes a viable approach to augmenting persistent soil carbon stabilization in plantation ecosystems. The 4% and 6% treatments produced the largest responses for most of the measured indicators, underscoring the importance of biochar application.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14081847","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T08:10:20Z","timestamp":1787213420000},"page":"1847","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Biochar Application Improves Soil Aggregate Stability and Aggregate-Associated Carbon Fractions Through Microbial Community Regulation in Eucalyptus Plantations\u2014A Seven-Year Field Experiment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jialin","family":"Liao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"},{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuyi","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Functional Phytochemicals and Sustainable Utilization, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5849-1477","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Denan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingjie","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiumei","family":"Teng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guangping","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"},{"name":"Guangxi Guilin Urban Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunhuang","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kechao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiwen","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junzhi","family":"Chu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"6869","article-title":"Effects of biochar application on soil organic carbon component in Eucalyptus plantations after five years in Northern Guangxi","volume":"44","author":"Mou","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. 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