Nutrient limitation of soil microbial processes in tropical forests

Camenzind, Tessa; Hättenschwiler, Stephan; Treseder, Kathleen K.; Lehmann, Anika; Rillig, Matthias C.

doi:10.1002/ecm.1279

Cited by 331 publications

(237 citation statements)

References 207 publications

(491 reference statements)

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“…This might explain why microbes tend to respond negatively to N addition in lowland tropical forests (Camenzind et al. ) while plants tend to respond positively (this study). Unicellular microbes are probably more susceptible to the negative effects of soil acidification than are suberized roots.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

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Plant responses to nutrient addition experiments conducted in tropical forests

Wright

2019

Ecological Monographs

107

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I present a meta‐analysis of plant responses to 48 nutrient addition experiments conducted with native species in naturally growing tropical forests, exclusive of mangrove forests. The added nutrients include nitrogen (N) in 36 experiments, phosphorus (P) in 33 experiments, calcium and potassium in one experiment each, and various mixtures of essential nutrients in the remaining experiments. I evaluate the hypotheses that nutrients limit tropical forest plants, nutrient limitation is stronger in successional than in old‐growth forests, P but not N is limiting in lowland forests, and N is limiting in montane forests. Responses to the most complete nutrient mix used in each experiment were strong for plant functions that contribute to aboveground production (Hedges’ g averages 0.87) and nonsignificant for fine root biomass. Responses to N addition and to P addition were strong for tissue concentrations of the added element (Hedges’ g averages 0.75 and 1.4, respectively), moderate for fine litter production (0.64 and 0.65, respectively), moderate to weak for plant growth (0.46 and 0.37, respectively) and nonsignificant for fine root biomass. Growth responses were stronger in successional than in old‐growth forests. All responses were unrelated to elevation. The 48 experiments included 30 factorial nitrogen‐phosphorus experiments that enable additional direct tests of the widely cited hypotheses that P limitation is stronger than N limitation in lowland forests and vice versa in montane forests. Both hypotheses were rejected. The N × P interaction effect was nonsignificant across the factorial experiments. In conclusion, nutrients clearly limit tropical forest plants. Limitation by N is widespread in both lowland and montane forests, and the same is true for P. Single experiments identify limitation by calcium and potassium, and correlative studies suggest limitation by calcium, potassium, and magnesium. The available evidence is consistent with the possibility that most macronutrients limit tropical forest plants; however, experiments focus almost exclusively on N and P. The way forward will include taking fuller advantage of existing nutrient addition experiments, siting new experiments strategically, and developing cost‐effective methods to assay responses to all of the essential nutrients soils supply to plants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Camenzind et al. () recently did so for microbial responses to nutrient addition experiments (henceforth fertilization experiments). In lowland forests, microbes responded positively to P addition but not to N addition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant responses to nutrient addition experiments conducted in tropical forests

Wright

2019

Ecological Monographs

107

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“…Moreover, the bio‐availability of nutrients (e.g. the percentage of nutrients that are actively assimilated into plants parts or microbial cells) after fertilizer treatments is sometimes very low (<20%); thus, endophytes may be unable to uptake nutrients in leaves following soil fertilization (Raun & Johnson, ; Zhang et al, ; Mohammadi, ; Willey, Sherwood, & Woolverton, ; but cf Camenzing, Hattenschwiler, Tresender, Lehmann, & Rillig, ). Thus, our results suggest the leaf tissue concentration of macronutrients is not the key in regulating the structure of bacterial endophyte communities, at least during the early seedling and sapling phase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant host identity and soil macronutrients explain little variation in sapling endophyte community composition: Is disturbance an alternative explanation?

et al. 2019

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Bacterial endophytes may be fairly host‐specific; nonetheless, an important subset of taxa may be shared among numerous host species forming a community‐wide core microbiome. Moreover, other key factors, particularly the supply of limiting macronutrients and disturbances, may supersede the importance of host identity. We tested the following four non‐mutually exclusive hypotheses: (a) The Host Identity Hypothesis: endophytes vary substantially among different host‐plant species. (b) The Core Microbiome Hypothesis: a subset of microbial taxa will be shared among all host‐plant species. (c). The Soil Resource Supply Hypothesis: endophytes vary substantially among habitats with experimentally elevated levels of macronutrients. (d) The Disturbance–Disruption Hypothesis: disturbances created by the periodic application of antibiotics structure bacterial endophyte communities. We tested these hypotheses by characterizing endophytes using high‐throughput sequencing among seedlings of five phylogenetically diverse tree species nested within a long‐term, full factorial nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium soil fertilization experiment. We artificially disturbed one of our focal species by applying antibiotics every 10–14 days for 29 months within the soil (N, P, K) fertilization experiment. While we detected a significant effect of host identity and soil nutrient additions, together they explained little variation in endophyte community composition (<10%). We found unequivocal evidence for a core microbiome shared by all species. Specifically, we inferred that nine OTUs were present among 95% or more of all control saplings, representing a third of the total reads. These bacterial taxa belonged to the Actinobacteria. In contrast, disturbance (antibiotics) explained more endophyte variation than all nutrient addition combinations combined and twice the variation explained by host identity for all five tree species. Synthesis. Our results challenge the idea that host identity is a primary filter shaping bacterial endophyte communities; this suggests that many of the same bacterial taxa occur inside plant hosts even if those host plants are phylogenetically diverse. Moreover, we documented a distinct core microbiome shared among our five focal tree species. Finally, we found that disturbance rather than host identity and soil nutrient availability was an important driver of microbial community composition, which parallels the importance of disturbance in other areas of community ecology.

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“…) and a recent meta‐analysis by Camenzind et al. () indicated that microbial limitation of P is widespread in tropical forests. In agreement, Turner and Wright () reported a significant increase in total microbial carbon (13%), N (21%) and P (49%) and a concurrent decrease in phosphatase activity (by 65%) with the addition of P but not N nor K at our site.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Recent meta‐analyses reported that N addition has negative effects on soil microbial biomass and respiration in lowland tropical forests (Camenzind et al. ) and also in temperate forests where the negative effects are typically stronger (Treseder ; Zhou et al. ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Response of Litter‐Associated Myxomycetes to Long‐Term Nutrient Addition in a Lowland Tropical Forest

Walker

Cedeño-Sanchez

Carbonero

et al. 2019

J Eukaryotic Microbiology

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Myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) are abundant protist predators that feed on bacteria and other microorganisms, thereby playing important roles in terrestrial nutrient cycling. Despite their significance, little is known about myxomycete communities and the extent to which they are affected by nutrient availability. We studied the influence of long‐term addition of N, P, and K on the myxomycete community in a lowland forest in the Republic of Panama. In a previous study, microbial biomass increased with P but not N or K addition at this site. We hypothesized that myxomycetes would increase in abundance in response to P but that they would not respond to the sole addition of N or K. Moist chamber cultures of leaf litter and small woody debris were used to quantify myxomycete abundance. We generated the largest myxomycete dataset (3,381 records) for any single locality in the tropics comprised by 91 morphospecies. In line with our hypothesis, myxomycete abundance increased in response to P addition but did not respond to N or K. Community composition was unaffected by nutrient treatments. This work represents one of very few large‐scale and long‐term field studies to include a heterotrophic protist highlighting the feasibility and value in doing so.

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Nutrient limitation of soil microbial processes in tropical forests

Cited by 331 publications

References 207 publications

Plant responses to nutrient addition experiments conducted in tropical forests

Plant responses to nutrient addition experiments conducted in tropical forests

Plant host identity and soil macronutrients explain little variation in sapling endophyte community composition: Is disturbance an alternative explanation?

The Response of Litter‐Associated Myxomycetes to Long‐Term Nutrient Addition in a Lowland Tropical Forest

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