Biotic and abiotic drivers of soil microbial functions across tree diversity experiments

Cesarz, Simone; Craven, Dylan; Auge, Harald; Bruelheide, Helge; Castagneyrol, Bastien; Héctor, Andy; Jactel, Hervé; Koricheva, Julia; Messier, Christian; Muys, Bart; O’Brien, Michael J.; Paquette, Alain; Ponette, Quentin; Potvin, Catherine; Scherer‐Lorenzen, Michael; Smith, Andrew R.; Verheyen, Kris; Eisenhauer, Nico

doi:10.1101/2020.01.30.927277

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“…Cesarz et al . (2020) found that the strength of species richness effects on microbial functioning increases with age of the forest, hence it might be too early in forest development to find strong differences in biotic legacies. It is possible that the agricultural land‐use legacy overwhelms any potential tree species richness legacies at this young stage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More generally, effects of species richness are likely very context‐dependent (Cesarz et al . 2020). Previous studies have found long‐term effects of past agricultural land use, reporting higher pH and P concentration and lower organic matter content (Falkengren‐Grerup et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, it is unlikely that nutrients would be limiting, since the concentrations of essential nutrients were high because of the site's agricultural legacy (Dhiedt et al 2021). Cesarz et al (2020) found that the strength of species richness effects on microbial functioning increases with age of the forest, hence it might be too early in forest development to find strong differences in biotic legacies. It is possible that the agricultural land-use legacy overwhelms any potential tree species richness legacies at this young stage.…”

Section: No Species Richness Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2016; Cesarz et al . 2020), which in turn improves nutrient uptake, nutrient cycling, and pest and disease control (Barrios 2007). This is especially important in relation to environmental stressors, since the effects of differences in composition and functioning of food webs strengthen under stress (de Vries et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not only species identity, but also tree species diversity is expected to affect seedling growth. A higher diversity of tree species is thought to promote a higher diversity and functioning of soil organisms (Korboulewsky et al 2016;Cesarz et al 2020), which in turn improves nutrient uptake, nutrient cycling, and pest and disease control (Barrios 2007). This is especially important in relation to environmental stressors, since the effects of differences in composition and functioning of food webs strengthen under stress (de Vries et al 2012b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil legacies of tree species richness in a young plantation do not modulate tree seedling response to watering regime

Dhiedt,

Baeten,

De Smedt

et al. 2023

Plant Biol J

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Trees have a strong and species‐specific influence on biotic and abiotic properties of the soil. Even after the vegetation is removed, the effect can persist to form so‐called soil legacies. We investigated the effects of soil legacies of tree species richness on the emergence and growth of tree seedlings, and how these legacy effects modulate the seedling responses to irrigation frequency. We used a 9‐year‐old tree plantation on former agricultural land in Belgium, which is part of a biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning experiment (FORBIO). Soil originating from monocultures and four‐species plots, with different species combinations, was translocated to a greenhouse. Five tree species (Betula pendula, Fagus sylvatica, Pinus sylvestris, Quercus robur, and Tilia cordata) were sown and grown for one growing season in these soils. We performed a watering treatment (low and high irrigation frequency) to measure any potential interaction effects between the soil legacies and irrigation frequency. There was no evidence for soil legacy effects of species richness on plant performance or their response to the irrigation frequency. However, the effect of irrigation frequency was dependent on species identity of the tree seedlings. Despite the lack of clear legacy effects, performance measures did show correlated responses that are likely due to species composition effects. We ascribe these patterns to the young age of the forest and the agricultural past land use. At this early stage in forest development, the land‐use history likely has a more important role in shaping soil characteristics that affect plant growth and their response to drought, than species diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: No Species Richness Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil legacies of tree species richness in a young plantation do not modulate tree seedling response to watering regime

Dhiedt,

Baeten,

De Smedt

et al. 2023

Plant Biol J

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Tree diversity and soil chemical properties drive the linkages between soil microbial community and ecosystem functioning

Beugnon

Cesarz

et al. 2021

ISME Communications

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Microbial respiration is critical for soil carbon balance and ecosystem functioning. Previous studies suggest that plant diversity influences soil microbial communities and their respiration. Yet, the linkages between tree diversity, microbial biomass, microbial diversity, and microbial functioning have rarely been explored. In this study, we measured two microbial functions (microbial physiological potential, and microbial respiration), together with microbial biomass, microbial taxonomic and functional profiles, and soil chemical properties in a tree diversity experiment in South China, to disentangle how tree diversity affects microbial respiration through the modifications of the microbial community. Our analyses show a significant positive effect of tree diversity on microbial biomass (+25% from monocultures to 24-species plots), bacterial diversity (+12%), and physiological potential (+12%). In addition, microbial biomass and physiological potential, but not microbial diversity, were identified as the key drivers of microbial respiration. Although soil chemical properties strongly modulated soil microbial community, tree diversity increased soil microbial respiration by increasing microbial biomass rather than changing microbial taxonomic or functional diversity. Overall, our findings suggest a prevalence of microbial biomass over diversity in controlling soil carbon dynamics.

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Illuminating biodiversity changes in the ‘Black Box’

Phillips¹,

Cameron²,

Eisenhauer³

2022

RIO

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Soil is often described as a ‘black box’, as surprisingly little is known about the high levels of biodiversity that reside there. For aboveground organisms, we have good knowledge of the distribution of the species and how they might change under future human impacts. Yet despite the fact that soil organisms provide a wide variety of ecosystem functions, we have very limited knowledge of their distribution and how their diversity might change in the future. In order to create accurate and generalisable models of biodiversity, the underlying data need to be representative of the entire globe. Yet even with our recently compiled global earthworm dataset of over 11000 sites, there are gaps across large regions. These gaps are consistent across many other datasets of both above- and belowground diversity. In order to fill the gaps we propose a sampling network (SoilFaUNa), to create a comprehensive database of soil macrofauna diversity and soil functions (e.g. decomposition rates). Building on the existing dataset of earthworm diversity and early data from the SoilFaUNa project, we will investigate changes in earthworm diversity. From our current work, we know that both climate and land use are main drivers in predicting earthworm diversity, but both will change under future scenarios and may alter ecosystem functions. We will, using space-for-time substitution models, estimate how earthworm diversity and their functions might change in the future, modelling earthworm diversity as a function of climate, land use and soil properties and predicting based on future scenarios. Previous studies of aboveground diversity changes over time using time-series analysis have found no-net-loss in richness, but analyses have criticisms. We aim to use time-series data on earthworms to move this debate forward, by using data and statistical methods that would address the criticisms, whilst increasing our knowledge on this understudied soil group. Field experiments and micro-/mesocosm experiments have been used to investigate the link between a number of soil organisms and ecosystem functions under few environmental conditions. Meta-analyses, which can produce generalisable results can only answer questions for which there are data. Thus, we have been lacking on information on the link between the entire community of soil fauna and ecosystem functions and impact of changes to the soil fauna community across environmental contexts. Using data collected from the SoilFaUNa project, we will, for the first time, synthesise globally distributed specifically-sampled data to model how changes in the community composition of soil macrofauna (due to changes in land use, climate or soil properties) impact the ecosystem functions in the soil.

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Biotic and abiotic drivers of soil microbial functions across tree diversity experiments

Cited by 3 publications

References 64 publications

Soil legacies of tree species richness in a young plantation do not modulate tree seedling response to watering regime

Soil legacies of tree species richness in a young plantation do not modulate tree seedling response to watering regime

Tree diversity and soil chemical properties drive the linkages between soil microbial community and ecosystem functioning

Illuminating biodiversity changes in the ‘Black Box’

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