Contributions of AM fungi and soil organic matter to plant productivity in tropical savanna soils under different land uses

Soka, Geofrey; Ritchie, Mark E.

doi:10.1016/j.rhisph.2016.06.004

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Although our finding shows a negative association between RR and rainfall and soil P, which would support the plant compensation hypothesis, we found positive, not negative associations between RR and plant P. Additionally, both unfenced and fenced plant biomasses are not associated with soil P, further negating the plant compensation hypothesis. However, the weak negative response of RR to soil P may arise from potential negative association between soil P and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that typically colonize grasses in the Serengeti (Soka and Ritchie 2016), which may enhance plant P (Smith and Read 2008) at low soil P, similar to other systems (Miller et al 1995, Liu et al 2012, Propster and Johnson 2015.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Although plant N increased with soil N (Fig S2a), plant P showed considerable variation that was unexplained by soil P, especially at low soil P (Fig S2b). This mismatch suggests that plants may maintain tissue P despite low soil P as a result of mutualistic resource exchanges (Antoninka et al 2015, Soka and Ritchie 2016, Ritchie and Raina 2016 or due to changing plant community composition (Ceulemans et al 2014, Anderson et al 2018. Regardless of the mechanism, herbivores ultimately respond to plant nutrient concentrations.…”

Section: Study Site and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large herbivore impact on plant biomass along multiple resource gradients in the Serengeti

Mohanbabu

Ritchie

2021

Preprint

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Herbivores form an important link in the transfer of energy within a food web and are strongly influenced by bottom-up trophic cascades. Current hypotheses suggest that herbivore consumption and impact on plants should scale positively with plant resource availability. However, depending on the effect of resources on plant quantity and quality, herbivore impact may vary with different types of resources. We test four alternative hypotheses for the relationship between plant biomass, herbivore impact on plant biomass, and plant resource gradients, each based on how resources might affect plant abundance and quality to herbivores. We measured plant biomass for four non-consecutive years in a long-term grazing exclosure experiment in the Serengeti National Park that includes seven sites that vary substantially in rainfall and soil and plant nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Our data supported the hypothesis that herbivore impact is controlled by plant quality, in this case driven by plant P, as herbivore effects on biomass decreased with higher rainfall but increased with greater plant P, but not N content. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental study to indicate that wild mammalian herbivory is associated with P availability rather than N. Our results suggest that P, in addition to water and N, may play a more important role in driving trophic interactions in terrestrial systems than previously realized.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Study Site and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large herbivore impact on plant biomass along multiple resource gradients in the Serengeti

Mohanbabu

Ritchie

2021

Preprint

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“…This is the main reason why soil fertility is linked to the composition, abundance and diversity of the soil fungal community (Ellouze et al, ; Pankhurst & Lynch, ; Siciliano et al, ). For instance, a recent study concluded that SOM content, along with high abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, were the key factors explaining yield increases in Zea mays and Themeda triandra across different soil types (Soka & Ritchie, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of plant development to organic matter and fungal presence in soils of horticultural crops

Marín-Guirao

Cara

Crisol‐Martínez

et al. 2019

Annals of Applied Biology

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Soil microbial communities are a crucial link between soil nutrient availability and plant productivity. They particularly depend on soil organic matter (SOM) content, which is considered one of the main components of soil fertility. But agricultural intensification and the increase in the use of fertilisers of mineral origin in recent decades (to the detriment of the incorporation of organic materials in agricultural soils) have resulted in a continuous loss of agricultural soil quality and fertility, which is considered one of the greatest challenges to addressing global food security. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms driving soil improvement via soil microbiota could result in a sustainable improvement in crop yields. Soils were sampled in 40 intensively managed greenhouses in southeast Spain to understand how SOM influences soil fungal community and how both these factors influence plant development. The values of three out of four growth-related variables (plant height, aerial dry weight and leaf area, but not root dry weight) in both tomato and cucumber plants showed a positive relation with SOM content and soil fungal diversity. This study concludes that SOM is key for the maintenance of soil fertility in intensive horticulture and that it is linked to the composition and diversity of soil fungal community. Both SOM and soil fungal communities should be considered as essential factors in achieving high soil fertility, and ultimately, to ensure an optimum crop development. K E Y W O R D S fungal genera, greenhouse, monoculture

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“…AMF are important microbial symbioses for plants in nutrients poor soils [6][7][8], and are significant in the maintenance of soil health and fertility, plant community development, nutrient uptake and above the ground productivity [1,2,9]. Plants exchange carbon (C) for fungal phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil has been reported to be a complex system wherein chemical, physical and biochemical factors are held in dynamic equilibrium [26]. Studies of AM hyphal abundance provide information on the biochemical processes occurring in soil [8,22]. There is growing evidence that soil biological parameters may be potential and sensitive indicators of soil fertility [27] and management induced changes in soil quality [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Filling the Gaps: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Biodiversity in the Tropical Ecosystems

Es¹

2018

MCDA

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Contributions of AM fungi and soil organic matter to plant productivity in tropical savanna soils under different land uses

Cited by 9 publications

References 51 publications

Large herbivore impact on plant biomass along multiple resource gradients in the Serengeti

Large herbivore impact on plant biomass along multiple resource gradients in the Serengeti

Association of plant development to organic matter and fungal presence in soils of horticultural crops

Filling the Gaps: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Biodiversity in the Tropical Ecosystems

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