Insecten: terug van weggeweest en de waan van de dag

Plant science

Voorkómen en vóórkomen van Jakobskruiskruid: hulp uit de bodem?

Jakobskruiskruid is een inheemse plantensoort die in grote delen van Nederland veelvuldig voorkomt, maar helaas giftig is voor onder meer paarden en runderen. In het veld vermijden grazers over het algemeen de plant, maar in gedroogd hooi wordt het niet meer door de dieren herkend, terwijl de plant wel giftig blijft. Hooi van natuurgebieden of wegbermen dat Jakobskruiskruid bevat, kan dan ook niet worden verkocht en moet worden afgevoerd en vernietigd. Daarom wordt er veel aandacht besteed aan het Jakobskruiskruid-vrij houden of -krijgen van weiden, bermen en graslanden. Meer inzicht in de dynamiek van Jakobskruiskruid kan bijdragen aan een effectiever behee

Spatial heterogeneity in plant-soil feedbacks alters competitive interactions between two grassland plant species

Plant science

Editorial: the next step: disentangling the role of plant-soil feedbacks in plant performance and species coexistence under natural conditions

Plant science

Exogenous application of plant defense hormones alters the effects of live soils on plant performance

Plant science

The negative effects of soil microorganisms on plant growth only extend to the first weeks

AimsSoil biotic communities can strongly impact plant performance. So far, most studies on plant-soil-interactions have estimated the effect of the soil microbial community on plant mass after a fixed duration of plant growth. However, these interactions may change over time and several studies have argued that plant-soil interactions are more important for young seedlings than for older plants. In this paper we ask the question: how long-lasting the effect of the soil microbial community on plant growth is. This is important as the growth rate of a plant is not only determined by the growing conditions but also by the size of the plant itself. Therefore, plant with a reduced growth rate early in life, due to negative effects of the soil microbial community, may increase less in biomass for a much longer period even though the relative growth rates do not differ any longer.MethodsWe examined the plant growth rates at three stages: early growth (0-21 days), mid growth (22 to 42 days) and late growth (43 to 63 days). We performed two growth experiments with Jacobaea vulgaris lasting 49 and 63 days. Plants were grown in sterilized soil or in sterilized soil inoculated with natural dune soil. In a third experiment, we examined the effect of the timing of soil inoculation prior to planting on the (relative-) growth rate of J. vulgaris plants with four different timing treatments.Important findingsIn all experiments, differences in biomass of plants grown in sterilized soil and inoculated soil (live soil) increased throughout the experiment. Interestingly, linear regression models with ln transformed dry weight against time for younger plants and for older plants in sterilized soil and live soil, respectively, showed that the relative growth rate of plants in the sterilized soil was only significantly higher than that of plants in the live soil in the first two to three weeks. After that period there was no longer a negative effect of the live soil on the relative growth rate of plants. In the third experiment, plant biomass decreased with increasing time between inoculation and planting. Overall, our results show that plants of J. vulgaris grew less well in live soil than in sterilized soil. The negative effects of soil inoculation on plant mass appeared to extend over the whole growth period but arise from the negative effects on relative growth rates that occurred in the first weeks after planting when plants have only less than 5% of the mass they obtained after 42 days. Our study highlights the importance of examining relative growth rates rather than final biomass to estimate the effects of soil microbial communities on plants.Plant science

Belowground responses of bacterial communities to foliar SA application over four plant generations

Background and aims Jacobaea vulgaris plants grow better in sterilized than in live soil. Foliar application of SA mitigates this negative effect of live soil on plant growth. To examine what causes the positive effect of SA application on plant growth in live soils, we analyzed the effects of SA application on the composition of active rhizosphere bacteria in the soil. Methods We studied the composition of the microbial community over four consecutive plant cycles (generations), using mRNA sequencing of the microbial communities in the rhizosphere of J. vulgaris. We initiated the experiment with an inoculum of live soil collected from the field, and at the start of each subsequent plant cycle, we inoculated a small part of the soil from the previous plant cycle into sterile bulk soil. Results Application of SA did not significantly increase or decrease the Shannon diversity at genus level within each generation, but several specific genera were enriched or depleted after foliar SA application. The composition of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere significantly differed between plant cycles (generations), but application of SA did not alter this pattern. In the first generation no genera were significantly affected by the SA treatment, but in the second, third and fourth generations, specific genera were significantly affected. 89 species out of the total 270 (32.4%) were present as the "core" microbiome in all treatments over four plant cycles. Conclusions Overall, our study shows that the composition of bacterial genera in the rhizosphere significantly differed between plant cycles, but that it was not strongly affected by foliar application of SA on J. vulgaris leaves. Further studies should examine how activation of the SA signaling pathway in the plant changes the functional genes of the rhizosphere bacterial community.Plant science

Soil inoculation alters the endosphere microbiome of chrysanthemum roots and leaves

Plant science

Light condition experienced by parent plants influences the response of offspring to light via both parental effects and soil legacy effects

1. Environmental conditions experienced by parent plants can influence offspring performance through parental effects induced by DNA methylation. The offspring can also be influenced by environmental conditions experienced by their parents via soil legacy effects due to plant-mediated changes in the composition of soil microbes. These two effects are likely to act simultaneously, but empirical evidence for combined effects is limited.2. We conducted a two-phase experiment with five genotypes of a clonal plant Hydrocotyle vulgaris. In the first phase, we grew parent plants of each genotype under two light conditions (ambient vs. shade) and two DNA demethylation treatments (treated with water vs. 5-azacytidine). We then collected soils and clonal offspring for each genotype from each of these four treatments and measured soil (a)biotic properties. In the second phase, we grew the offspring from each of the four treatments in the four different soils, under the two light conditions.3. When grown under ambient light condition and in soil from ambient parents, offspring produced by ambient parents grew larger than offspring produced by shaded parents when the parents were treated with water. This difference was smaller when the parents were treated with 5-azacytidine, and disappeared when the offspring were grown in soil from shaded parents. The growth difference was also observed when the offspring were grown under shaded condition and in soil from shaded parents. However, this difference was greater when the parents were treated with 5-azacytidine, and disappeared when the offspring were grown in soil from ambient parents. Moreover, offspring growth was associated with fungal composition and total phosphorus of the soil in which the parents had grown.4. Our results show, for the first time, that light condition experienced by parents can influence offspring responses to light through both parental effects and soil legacies. The parental effects were mediated by changes in DNA methylation and the soil legacies were due to plant-mediated changes in a combination of soil biotic and abiotic properties. These impacts may eventually influence the ecological and evolutionary trajectories of clonal plant populations.Plant science

Effects of plant diversity on the concentration of secondary plant metabolites and the density of arthropods on focal plants in the field

Plant science