Moderate plant–soil feedbacks have small effects on the biodiversity–productivity relationship: A field experiment

Grenzer, Josephine; Kulmatiski, Andrew; Forero, Leslie E.; Ebeling, Anne; Eisenhauer, Nico; Norton, Jeanette M.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7819

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(184 reference statements)

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“…These experiments, therefore, demonstrated that the plants created soil conditions in two years in the field that changed the subsequent plant growth. These plant growth responses have been reported elsewhere [42,43]. Here, we describe the soil microbial communities in the soils in these two experiments.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

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Are Plant–Soil Feedbacks Caused by Many Weak Microbial Interactions?

Aaronson,

Kulmatiski,

Forero

et al. 2023

Biology

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We used high-throughput sequencing and multivariate analyses to describe soil microbial community composition in two four-year field plant–soil feedback (PSF) experiments in Minnesota, USA and Jena, Germany. In descending order of variation explained, microbial community composition differed between the two study sites, among years, between bulk and rhizosphere soils, and among rhizosphere soils cultivated by different plant species. To try to identify soil organisms or communities that may cause PSF, we correlated plant growth responses with the microbial community composition associated with different plants. We found that plant biomass was correlated with values on two multivariate axes. These multivariate axes weighted dozens of soil organisms, suggesting that PSF was not caused by individual pathogens or symbionts but instead was caused by ‘many weak’ plant–microbe interactions. Taken together, the results suggest that PSFs result from complex interactions that occur within the context of a much larger soil microbial community whose composition is determined by factors associated with ‘site’ or year, such as soil pH, soil type, and weather. The results suggest that PSFs may be highly variable and difficult to reproduce because they result from complex interactions that occur in the context of a larger soil microbial community.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Aboveground plant biomass was harvested in these experiments. The plant biomass was, on average, ~25% different on 'self' than 'other' soil [42,43]. These experiments, therefore, demonstrated that the plants created soil conditions in two years in the field that changed the subsequent plant growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Are Plant–Soil Feedbacks Caused by Many Weak Microbial Interactions?

Aaronson,

Kulmatiski,

Forero

et al. 2023

Biology

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“…Conversely, subdominant plants with large PSFs, and dominant plants with small PSFs will have little effect on overyielding. For example, an experiment in Germany that used nine species and the same methodology as this experiment found a minimal role for PSF in biomass production (Grenzer et al, 2021). Broadly, PSF effects on community biomass reflected the specific plants and soil types present in a community, and not just the mean PSF across species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Factorial experiments with more than three species remain uncommon within the plant–soil feedback literature, because factorial designs require large sample sizes (Crawford et al, 2019). For example, in a recent meta‐analysis 77% of the studies examined consisted of three species or less, and only three of the studies examined 10 or more species (Crawford et al, 2019; Kulmatiski, 2016; Maron et al, 2016; Petermann et al, 2008), although additional large PSF experiments not included in Crawford et al (2019) have recently been published (Grenzer et al, 2021; Heinen, Biere, et al, 2020). The relatively uncommon 16‐species factorial design of this study allowed us to examine how PSF varies across a relatively wide range of soil types (Figure 1a,b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant–soil feedbacks help explain plant community productivity

Forero

Kulmatiski

Grenzer

et al. 2022

Ecology

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Plant productivity often increases with species richness, but the mechanisms explaining this diversity–productivity relationship are not fully understood. We tested if plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) can help to explain how biomass production changes with species richness. Using a greenhouse experiment, we measured all 240 possible PSFs for 16 plant species. At the same time, 49 plant communities with diversities ranging from one to 16 species were grown in replicated pots. A suite of plant community growth models, parameterized with (PSF) or without PSF (Null) effects, was used to predict plant growth observed in the communities. Selection effects and complementarity effects in modeled and observed data were separated. Plants created soils that increased or decreased subsequent plant growth by 25% ± 10%, but because PSFs were negative for C3 and C4 grasses, neutral for forbs, and positive for legumes, the net effect of all PSFs was a 2% ± 17% decrease in plant growth. Experimental plant communities with 16 species produced 37% more biomass than monocultures due to complementarity. Null models incorrectly predicted that 16‐species communities would overyield due to selection effects. Adding PSF effects to Null models decreased selection effects, increased complementarity effects, and improved correlations between observed and predicted community biomass. PSF models predicted 26% of overyielding caused by complementarity observed in experimental communities. Relative to Null models, PSF models improved the predictions of the magnitude and mechanism of the diversity–productivity relationship. Results provide clear support for PSFs as one of several mechanisms that determine diversity–productivity relationships and help close the gap in understanding how biodiversity enhances ecosystem services such as biomass production.

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“…Many studies have investigated how PSFs affect plant productivity and diversity (Grenzer et al, 2021; Teste et al, 2017; Thakur et al, 2021). However, most of these studies focused on comparison of the effects of conspecific and heterospecific soils which were conditioned by single species (Zhao et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity‐conditioned soil strengthens plant diversity–productivity relationship

Ren

Xie

et al. 2023

Journal of Applied Ecology

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How biodiversity affects terrestrial productivity is important to the maintenance of ecosystem services under global change. Although the crucial role of plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) in determining diversity–productivity relationship has been increasingly recognized in recent years, its legacy effects on subsequent diversity–productivity relationship are still unclear. We conducted a classic PSF experiment to assess how plant diversity‐conditioned soils influenced subsequent plant diversity–productivity relationships, where three plant diversity levels (1, 4 and 8 species) were planted in soils conditioned at three diversity levels (conditioned by 1, 4 and 8 species for 3 years). In addition, to test the role of soil microbial diversity in mediating the effects of soil conditioning diversity, the three plant diversity levels were planted with low, moderate and high soil biodiversity created by a soil inoculum dilution. The results showed that plant productivities were promoted by mixed‐conditioned soils (4 and 8 species) comparing to mono‐conditioned soils (1 species). Productivity was positively related to planted diversity in mixed‐conditioned soils, while showed no relation with planted diversity in mono‐conditioned soils. Productivity was promoted by soil biodiversity when 4 and 8 species were mixed planted, while did not change when 1 species was planted. Synthesis and applications . Our results highlight that PSF is crucial to strengthen the positive effects of biodiversity on productivity, implying that diversifying cropping systems should be encouraged in agroecosystem management to benefit from positive PSF effects. The importance of soil legacy for optimizing plant productivity is particularly important for conditioning soils with an intermediate number of plant species.

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Moderate plant–soil feedbacks have small effects on the biodiversity–productivity relationship: A field experiment

Cited by 4 publications

References 70 publications

Are Plant–Soil Feedbacks Caused by Many Weak Microbial Interactions?

Are Plant–Soil Feedbacks Caused by Many Weak Microbial Interactions?

Plant–soil feedbacks help explain plant community productivity

Diversity‐conditioned soil strengthens plant diversity–productivity relationship

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