Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland

Feedbacks between plants and soil microbial communities play an important role in vegetation dynamics, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we show that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal, and saprotrophic fungi is a primary regulator of plant-soil feedbacks across a broad range of temperate grassland plant species. We show that plant species with resource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thin roots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialist saprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plant growth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soil properties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils, promoting antagonistic relationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity to predict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamental links between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies, and the diversity of fungal guilds in soil

Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland

Feedbacks between plants and soil microbial communities play an important role in vegetation dynamics, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we show that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal, and saprotrophic fungi is a primary regulator of plant-soil feedbacks across a broad range of temperate grassland plant species. We show that plant species with resource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thin roots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialist saprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plant growth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soil properties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils, promoting antagonistic relationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity to predict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamental links between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies, and the diversity of fungal guilds in soil

Maa-alused interaktsioonid: taimede suguluse, juureeritiste ja mulla biootilise keskkonna roll

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneLoomade käitumist on lihtne märgata, taimede puhul on see aga märksa keerulisem. Olgugi et nad ei liigu, suudavad nad siiski paljudele keskkonnamuutustele mitmete tunnuste kaudu reageerida. Oma doktoritöös uurisin kuidas taimed tunnevad ära enda sugulasi, eristavad neid mittesugulastest ja teistest liikidest ning mis selle äratundmise tulemus võiks olla. Leidsin et sugulaste äratundmine toimub juurtest erituvate ainete kaudu, mida teised taimed oma juurtega tajuvad. Äratundmise tulemusena kasvatasid nad vähem juuri oma sugulaste juureeritiste suunas, mis viitab hõimuvalikule ehk sugulaste eelistamisele , võimaldades neil saada rohkem järglasi kuna vähem ressursse panustatakse omavahelisse konkureerimisse. Rohkem juuri kasvatati tajudes samast kooslusest pärit mittesugulastest liigikaaslase lähedust, mida võib pidada agressiivseks ruumi ja toitainete hõivamiseks. Katses kasutatud teisele liigile taimed ei reageerinud, mis näitab et ära tuntakse eelkõige oma liigikaaslasi, kuigi ka mujalt pärit liigikaaslaste juureeritiste suhtes reageeris taim vähem. Sellest järeldub, et juureeritiste kaudu saavad taimed infot nii naabertaime suguluse, liigi kui ka päritolu kohta. Sugulaste äratundmine mõjutab ka järgneva põlvkonna taimede kasvu. Katses kus taimi kasvatati mullas, mis pärines sugulasgruppidelt (ja sisaldas nende surnud juuri) võrreldes mittesugulasgruppide mullas kasvanutega ilmnes, et sugulastelt pärinevad surnud juured lagunevad aeglasemalt ja sisaldavad vähem lämmastikku. Selle põhjuseks on ilmselt suurem sarnasus sugulaste vahel, mispärast on nad rohkem kahjuritest ohustatud ja kasvatavad juuri mis on kahjuritele vähem ahvatlevad, kuid ka lagunevad aeglasemalt. Järgmise põlvkonna taimede lämmastikusisaldus oli samuti madalam, mis näitab et sugulaste äratundmine võib mõjutada ka aineringet. Taimedevahelise äratundmise praktiline rakendus võib leiduda põllumajanduses, kui aretatakse taimesorte mis konkureerivad vähem oma naabritega ja annavad selle arvelt rohkem saaki.Despite being sessile, plants display remarkable behaviour. Plants react to environmental cues through changes in traits altering their phenotype. I researched how plants recognise their relatives, distinguish them from unrelated plants and different species and what is the outcome of such recognition. I found that kin recognition is mediated through compounds exuded by roots, which in turn are recognised by roots of other plants. As a result of kin recognition plants placed less roots towards cues of their relatives. Kin selection allows them to invest more in reproduction at an expense of competition. More roots were diverted towards non-relative conspecific cues from the same population that can be interpreted as aggressive occupation of space and resources whereas conspecific cues from different population elicited lesser response which may be explained with coevolution. Plants did not specifically react to the interspecific cues, suggesting that root exudates convey information about relatedness, community and species identity. Trait changes arising from kin recognition can affect nutrient cycling and growth of plants in next generation: plants grown in soil previously inhabited by kin groups that also included the root litter contained less nitrogen, compared to stranger groups, and root litter originating from related plants decomposed slower. This effect was probably caused by lower genetic diversity among relatives which makes them more susceptible to pathogen attack and requires reinforcement of defense-related root morphology and production of more recalcitrant roots. Lower nitrogen concentration in root litter of relatives and next generation plants shows that kin recognition can impact nutrient cycling in ecosystems. The practical application of kin recognition in plants can manifest in agriculture if plant varieties are bred to compete less with their neighbours and produce higher crop yield

Spatial heterogeneity in root litter and soil legacies differentially affect legume root traits

Background and Aims: Plants affect the soil environment via litter inputs and changes in biotic communities, which feed back to subsequent plant growth. Here we investigated the individual contributions of litter and biotic communities to soil feedback effects, and plant ability to respond to spatial heterogeneity in soil legacy. Methods: We tested for localised and systemic responses of Trifolium repens to soil biotic and root litter legacy of seven grassland species by exposing half of a root system to control soil and the other half to specific inoculum or root litter. Results: Soil inoculation triggered a localised reduction in root length while litter locally increased root biomass independent of inoculum or litter species identity. Nodule formation was locally suppressed in response to soil conditioned by another legume (Vicia cracca) and showed a trend towards systemic reduction in response to conspecific soil. V. cracca litter also caused a systemic response with thinner roots produced in the part of the root system not directly exposed to the litter. Conclusions: Spatial heterogeneity in root litter distribution and soil communities generate distinct local and systemic responses in root morphology and nodulation. These responses can influence plant-mutualist interactions and nutrient cycling, and should be included in plant co-existence models

Legume presence reduces the decomposition rate of non-legume roots

Living plants can enhance litter decomposition rates via a priming effect by releasing root exudates which provide energy to saprotrophic microbes and thereby enable them to degrade litter faster. The strength of this effect, however, is expected to be dependent on the litter properties. To test whether the presence of a growing plant affects the decomposition rate of dead roots with different traits, we used dead roots of seven species (3 grasses, 3 legumes, 1 forb) as litter and quantified litter mass loss after eight weeks of incubation in soil with or without a growing white clover (Trifolium repens) plant. We expected root decomposition to be faster in the presence of T. repens, especially for roots with high C:N ratio. We found that the presence of T. repens slowed down the decomposition of grass and forb roots (negative priming), while it did not significantly affect the decomposition of legume roots. Our results show that root decomposition can be slowed down in the presence of a living plant and that this effect depends on the properties of the decomposing roots, with a pronounced reduction in root litter poor in N and P, but not in the relatively nutrient-rich legume root litters. Negative priming effect of legume plants on non-legume litter decomposition may have resulted from preferential substrate utilisation by soil microbes</p