Impact of soil negative feedbacks on plant species diversity

Figure: The photo shows a close-up of grasses and other plants growing in a meadow. Further back in the image are a climate measurement station and a young scientist at work. In the background of the image are coniferous and deciduous forests under a blue sky.

Hypotheses

H1: that plant species with large individual biomass production that are not locally dominant are most strongly limited by specific microbial negative soil feedbacks

H2: potentially invasive plant species profit from the absence of specific soil-negative feedbacks (SFB) in their new habitat.
The comprehensive network of permanent plots replicated across geographic regions and differing in land-use type and land-use intensity across Germany provides an ideal framework to test

H3: the importance and strength of negative soil-interactions on plant coexistence, diversity and community composition along a soil-nutrient gradient. The impact of negative microbial SFB will increase with increasing land-use intensity.

Methods

Our hypotheses will be examined by two different sets of plant species, which show the relevant variability in the traits examined, i.e. for Biomass and relative abundance.

Field sampling
Within the extreme landuse type covered by the EP’s in each exploratory, seeds of 10 maternal genotypes per species will be harvested.
In addition, a small amount of top-soil (c. 20 g; 0-5 cm depth) will be collected around individuals of every species in EP grassland plots to obtain an unsterilised soil inoculums containing the native microbial diversity

Training phase/initial screening phase of feedback effects
Surface sterilised seeds of both sets of species will be planted in the glasshouse
1) Monocultures and polycultures in pots containing either ?- sterilised standard soil and sand or
2) ? -sterilised standard soil and sand + unsterilised soil inocula. The reciprocal seeding of seeds of different geographic origin will provide information on the feed-back specificity of the soil biota. Species will be grown for approximately 3 months and
will then be harvested

Test of specificity of soil-feedbacks and detection of fractions of soil biota responsible for feed-back effects
Soil-carryover effects in pre-conditioned soil collected in pots that contained monocultures of the test species will be used to test:
1) whether soil-feedback effects increase in time,
2) whether such effects are species specific or phylogenetically independent and
3) which group of soil microbes is responsible for the effect on plant growth ? using an inoculation approach (Lab identification & culture of pathogenic fungal isolates)

Publications

Plant-soil feedbacks play a minor role in explaining intraspecific phenotypic variance under natural conditions

Wechselwirkungen zwischen Bodenmikroorganismen und Pflanzen spielen eine untergeordnete Rolle für die lokale Anpassung von Plantago lanceolata

Kirchhoff L. (2019): Plant-soil feedbacks play a minor role in explaining intraspecific phenotypic variance under natural conditions. Bachelor thesis, University of Tübingen

The impact of soil microbiota on plant species performance and diversity in semi-natural grasslands

Heinze J. (2017): The impact of soil microbiota on plant species performance and diversity in semi-natural grasslands. Dissertation, University Potsdam

Root traits are more than analogues of leaf traits: the case for diaspore mass

Wurzeltraits sind mehr, als nur Analoge zu Blatttraits: Das Beispiel Diasporengewicht

Bergmann J., Ryo M., Prati D., Hempel S., Rillig M. C. (2017): Roots traits are more than analogues of leaf traits: the case for diaspore mass. New Phytologist 216 (4), 1130–1139. doi: 10.1111/nph.14748

Root traits and their effect in plant-soil interactions

Wurzelmerkmale und ihr Effekt in Pflanze-Boden Interaktionen

Bergmann J. (2017): Root traits and their effect in plant-soil interactions. Dissertation, FU Berlin

The interplay between soil structure, roots, and microbiota as a determinant of plant–soil feedback

Das Zusammenspiel zwischen Bodenstruktur, Wurzeln und Mikrobiota beeinflusst Pflanze-Boden-Rückkopplungen (plant-soil feedbacks)

Bergmann J., Verbruggen E., Heinze J., Xiang D., Chen B., Joshi J., Rillig M. C. (2016): The interplay between soil structure, roots, and microbiota as a determinant of plant–soil feedback. Ecology and Evolution 6 (21), 7633–7644. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2456

Negativebiotic soil-effects enhance biodiversity by restricting potentially dominant plant species in grasslands

Bodenmikroorganismen hindern potentiell dominante Pflanzenarten an übermäßigem Wachstum und erhalten somit Biodiversität im Grasland

Heinze J., Bergmann J., Rillig M. C., Joshi J. (2015): Negativebiotic soil-effects enhance biodiversity by restricting potentially dominant plant species in grasslands. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 17 (3), 227–235. doi: 10.1016/j.ppees.2015.03.002

Soil biota effects on local abundances of three grass species along a land-use gradient

Einfluss von Bodenmikroorganismen auf die lokale Häufigkeit von drei Grasarten entlang eines Landnutzungsgradienten

Heinze J., Werner T., Weber E., Rillig M. M., Joshi J. (2015): Soil biota effects on local abundances of three grass species along a land-use gradient. Oecologia 179 (1), 249-259. doi: 10.1007/s00442-015-3336-0

Einfluss von Rückegassen auf die Vegetation und Samenbank von Buchen- und Kiefernwäldern des Biodiversitätsexploratoriums Schorfheide-Chorin

Harwardt J. (2012): Einfluss von Rückegassen auf die Vegetation und Samenbank von Buchen- und Kiefernwäldern des Biodiversitätsexploratoriums Schorfheide-Chorin. Master thesis, University Potsdam

Scientific assistants

Alumni

Prof. Dr. Jasmin Joshi

Project manager

Prof. Dr. Matthias Rillig

Freie Universität Berlin

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