Interpretation of bioassays in the study of interactions between soil organisms and plants: involvement of nutrient factors

Troelstra, S. R.; Wagenaar, R.; Smant, W.; Peters, B. A. M.

doi:10.1046/j.1469-8137.2001.00133.x

Cited by 124 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…didyma) belongs to a non-mycorrhizal family (Newman and Reddell 1987), and therefore, it likely experienced mostly negative interactions with soil biota in live soil. We are well aware that soil sterilization may also increase nutrient availability (Troelstra et al 2001) and that target species might show differential response to sterilization, but the fact that not all plant species responded similarly to soil sterilization strongly suggests that also biotic interactions, independent of altered nutrient supply, may have been involved in causing plant responses. Release from enemies through soil sterilization, therefore, offers a parsimonious explanation for the increased performance of Bi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separating the role of biotic interactions and climate in determining adaptive response of plants to climate change

Tomiolo

Putten

Tielbӧrger

2015

Ecology

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Abstract. Altered rainfall regimes will greatly affect the response of plant species to climate change. However, little is known about how direct effects of changing precipitation on plant performance may depend on other abiotic factors and biotic interactions. We used reciprocal transplants between climatically very different sites with simultaneous manipulation of soil, plant population origin, and neighbor conditions to evaluate local adaptation and possible adaptive response of four Eastern Mediterranean annual plant species to climate change. The effect of site on plant performance was negligible, but soil origin had a strong effect on fecundity, most likely due to differential water retaining ability. Competition by neighbors strongly reduced fitness.We separated the effects of the abiotic and biotic soil properties on plant performance by repeating the field experiment in a greenhouse under homogenous environmental conditions and including a soil biota manipulation treatment. As in the field, plant performance differed among soil origins and neighbor treatments. Moreover, we found plant species-specific responses to soil biota that may be best explained by the differential sensitivity to negative and positive soil biota effects. Overall, under the conditions of our experiment with two contrasting sites, biotic interactions had a strong effect on plant fitness that interacted with and eventually overrode climate. Because climate and biotic interactions covary, reciprocal transplants and climate gradient studies should consider soil biotic interactions and abiotic conditions when evaluating climate change effects on plant performance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separating the role of biotic interactions and climate in determining adaptive response of plants to climate change

Tomiolo

Putten

Tielbӧrger

2015

Ecology

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“…We assessed plant soil feedback in two ways, because of possible shortcomings of the different methods. Comparing biomass production in sterilized and nonsterilized soils that had been inoculated prior to soil conditioning may have resulted in nutrient flushes, thereby enhancing the amount of available nitrogen and phosphate in the sterilized soil (Troelstra et al 2001). To avoid differences in nutrient availabilities in the sterilized and nonsterilized soils, nutrients were supplied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Feedback of Exotic Savanna Grass Relates to Pathogen Absence and Mycorrhizal Selectivity

Putten¹,

Kowalchuk²,

Brinkman³

et al. 2007

Ecology

104

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Abstract. Enemy release of exotic plants from soil pathogens has been tested by examining plant-soil feedback effects in repetitive growth cycles. However, positive soil feedback may also be due to enhanced benefit from the local arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Few studies actually have tested pathogen effects, and none of them did so in arid savannas. In the Kalahari savanna in Botswana, we compared the soil feedback of the exotic grass Cenchrus biflorus with that of two dominant native grasses, Eragrostis lehmanniana and Aristida meridionalis. The exotic grass had neutral to positive soil feedback, whereas both native grasses showed neutral to negative feedback effects.Isolation and testing of root-inhabiting fungi of E. lehmanniana yielded two host-specific pathogens that did not influence the exotic C. biflorus or the other native grass, A. meridionalis. None of the grasses was affected by the fungi that were isolated from the roots of the exotic C. biflorus. We isolated and compared the AMF community of the native and exotic grasses by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel elecrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), targeting AMF 18S rRNA. We used roots from monospecific field stands and from plants grown in pots with mixtures of soils from the monospecific field stands. Three-quarters of the root samples of the exotic grass had two nearly identical sequences, showing 99% similarity with Glomus versiforme. The two native grasses were also associated with distinct bands, but each of these bands occurred in only a fraction of the root samples. The native grasses contained a higher diversity of AMF bands than the exotic grass. Canonical correspondence analyses of the AMF band patterns revealed almost as much difference between the native and exotic grasses as between the native grasses.In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that release from soil-borne enemies may facilitate local abundance of exotic plants, and we provide the first evidence that these processes may occur in arid savanna ecosystems. Pathogenicity tests implicated the involvement of soil pathogens in the soil feedback responses, and further studies should reveal the functional consequences of the observed high infection with a low diversity of AMF in the roots of exotic plants.

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“…We did not compare changes in soil abiotic and biotic attributes between sterilized and unsterilized soils during the testing phase of the experiment. It is important to mention that sterilization can release nutrients into the soil and it is often controlled for by fertilization [43]. However, because we observed different responses to sterilization in Lonicera and Diervilla, effects of this treatment are unlikely to be due to simple nutrient release caused by sterilization, which would likely affect most species positively.…”

Section: Effects Of Soil Type and Sterilization On Plant-soil Feedbacksmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Although abiotic soil attributes, such as nitrate, calcium, magnesium concentrations and pH were seemingly affected by conditioning, the much larger effect of sterilization versus just conditioning alone indicate that biotic factors had the most important impacts on growth of plants in this study. However, variation in biotic attributes of the soil can also affect abiotic traits, like nutrient status [43], thus it can be difficult to disentangle the two effects. We did not compare changes in soil abiotic and biotic attributes between sterilized and unsterilized soils during the testing phase of the experiment.…”

Section: Effects Of Soil Type and Sterilization On Plant-soil Feedbacksmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sign and Strength of Plant-Soil Feedback for the Invasive Shrub, Lonicera maackii, Varies in Different Soils

Schradin

Cipollini

2012

Forests

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Plants alter soil characteristics causing changes in their subsequent growth resulting in positive or negative feedback on both their own fitness and that of other plants. In a greenhouse study, we investigated whether the sign and strength of feedback changed across two distinct soil types, and whether effects were due to shifts in biotic or abiotic soil traits. Using soils from two different locations, we examined growth of the exotic invasive shrub, Lonicera maackii and the related native shrub, Diervilla lonicera, in unconditioned soils and in soils conditioned by previous growth of L. maackii, D. lonicera, and Fraxinus pennsylvanica. In a sandy acidic soil, L. maackii showed positive feedback in unsterilized soils, but its growth decreased and positive feedback became negative with sterilization in this soil. In a loamy circumneutral soil, L. maackii displayed neutral to negative feedback in unsterilized soils, but sterilization significantly increased growth in all conditioning treatments and caused feedback to become strongly negative. Native D. lonicera displayed negative feedback in unsterilized soil of both the sandy and loamy types, but sterilization either eliminated or reversed feedback relationships. Soil conditioning by L. maackii and F. pennsylvanica had very similar feedbacks on L. maackii and D. lonicera. While some abiotic soil traits varied across soil types and were affected by conditioning, soil biota sensitive to sterilization were apparently important mediators of both positive and negative feedback effects.

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Interpretation of bioassays in the study of interactions between soil organisms and plants: involvement of nutrient factors

Cited by 124 publications

References 29 publications

Separating the role of biotic interactions and climate in determining adaptive response of plants to climate change

Separating the role of biotic interactions and climate in determining adaptive response of plants to climate change

Soil Feedback of Exotic Savanna Grass Relates to Pathogen Absence and Mycorrhizal Selectivity

The Sign and Strength of Plant-Soil Feedback for the Invasive Shrub, Lonicera maackii, Varies in Different Soils

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