Fig. 2: Climate and temporal effects on activities of plants, soil microbes, and soil fauna.

Effects of climate (ambient vs. experimental warming) on (a) plant growth activity (n = 24), (b) soil microbial respiration activity (n = 24), and (c) soil fauna feeding activity (n = 24). Effects of sampling time (i.e., 6 months of the growing season) on (d) plant growth activity (n = 8), (e) soil microbial respiration activity (n = 8), and (f) soil fauna feeding activity (n = 8). Interactive effects of climate and sampling time on (g) plant growth activity (n = 4), (h) soil microbial respiration activity (n = 4), and (i) soil fauna feeding activity (n = 4). Data were analyzed using linear mixed effects models (see “Methods” for details). Based on two-sided tests for multiple comparisons by FDR corrections, different lowercase letters at the top of the boxes indicate significant differences among respective groups (p < 0.05) (a–i); *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 indicate significant differences between ambient and warming climates in specific sampling time (g–i). Box center lines represent the median, box limits represent the upper and lower quartiles, whiskers represent the 1.5 × interquartile range from the 25th and 75th percentiles, red dots represent the mean, and jittered points represent biologically independent samples for each group. EGS early growing season (spring = May–June), MGS middle growing season (summer = July–August.), LGS late-growing season (autumn = September–October).