Plant root exudation under drought: implications for ecosystem functioning

Williams, Alex; Vries, Franciska T. de

doi:10.1111/nph.16223

Cited by 378 publications

(232 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Furthermore, HR induced wetting can support microbial communities that sustain vigorous nutrient cycling in the otherwise dry soil layers. Facilitation mechanisms could include regulation of root exudation on microbial activities (Williams and de Vries, 2020). This hypothesis is consistent with the frequent occurrence of HR in deep-rooted shrubs of arid and semi-arid regions (Kizito et al, 2007;Bogie et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Root uptake under mismatched distributions of water and nutrients in the root zone

Yan¹,

Bogie²,

Ghezzehei³

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Most plants derive their water and nutrient needs from soils, where the resources are often scarce, patchy, and ephemeral. In natural environments, it is not uncommon for plant roots to encounter mismatched patches of water-rich and nutrient-rich regions. Such an uneven distribution of resources necessitates plants to rely on strategies that allow them to explore and acquire nutrients from relatively dry patches. We conducted a laboratory study to provide a mechanistic understanding of the biophysical factors that enable this adaptation. We grew plants in split-root pots that permitted precisely controlled spatial distributions of resources. The results demonstrated that spatial mismatch of water and nutrient availability does not cost plant productivity compared to matched distributions. Specifically, we showed that nutrient uptake is not reduced by overall soil dryness, provided that the whole plant has access to sufficient water elsewhere in the root zone. Essential strategies include extensive root proliferation towards nutrient-rich dry soil patches that allows rapid nutrient capture from brief pulses. Using high-frequency water potential measurements, we also observed nocturnal water release by roots that inhabit dry and nutrient-rich soil patches. Soil water potential gradient is the primary driver of this transfer of water from wet to dry soil parts of the root zone, which is commonly known as hydraulic redistribution (HR). The occurrence of HR prevents the soil drying from approaching the permanent wilting point, and thus supports root functions and enhance nutrient availability. Our results indicate that roots facilitate HR by increasing root-hair density and length and deposition of organic coatings that alter water retention. Therefore, we conclude that biologically-controlled root adaptation involves multiple strategies that compensate for nutrient acquisition under mismatched resource distributions. Based on our findings, we proposed a nature-inspired nutrient management strategy for significantly curtailing water pollution from intensive agricultural systems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Root uptake under mismatched distributions of water and nutrients in the root zone

Yan¹,

Bogie²,

Ghezzehei³

2020

Preprint

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“…Specifically, we show that species turnover, likely caused by enviro-climatological changes resulted in a reshuffling of plant and microbial communities, which then led to a significant rewiring of plant-microbial interactions. Our results suggest that increasing network specialization may have been driven by a shift in physiological and metabolic activity across one organisational level (Blazewicz et al 2020;Williams & de Vries 2020), which then cascaded to the other level. Our findings highlight that while spatial patterns of diversity across trophic levels are indeed key to understand network specialization as forwarded by Galiana et al (2019), and that the contribution of novel associations between species that are common and shared across the networks is most prevalent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Rewiring of peatland plant-microbe networks outpaces species turnover

Robroek

Martí

Svensson

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Enviro-climatological changes are thought to be causing alterations in ecosystem processes through shifts in plant and microbial communities. However, how links between plant and microbial communities change with enviro-climatological change is likely to be less straightforward, but may be fundamental for many ecological processes. To address this, we assessed the composition of the plant community and the prokaryotic community -using amplicon-based sequencing-of three European peatlands that were distinct in enviro-climatological conditions. Bipartite networks were used to construct site-specific plant-prokaryote co-occurrence networks. Our data show that between sites, plant and prokaryotic communities differ and that turnover in interactions between the communities was complex. Essentially, turnover in plant-microbial interactions is much faster than turnover in the respective communities. Our findings suggest that network rewiring does largely result from novel associations between species that are common and shared across the networks. Turnover in network composition is largely driven by novel interactions between a core community of plants and microorganisms. Taken together our results indicate that the functional role of species is context dependent, and that changes in enviro-climatological conditions will likely lead to network rewiring.Integrating turnover in plant-microbe interactions into studies that assess the impact of enviroclimatological change on peatland ecosystems is essential to understand ecosystem dynamics and must be combined with studies on the impact of these changes on ecosystem processes. Keywordsmicrobial and plant diversity, plant-microbe interactions, bipartite networks, 16SrRNA, 16S amplicon sequencing, peatlands.

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“…Root exudation is a temporally dynamic process that can promote or inhibit the growth of particular microbial taxa [38]. It has been shown that drought and rewetting can modify exudate composition [39][40][41], which in turn could alter the activity of microorganisms at the root-soil interface [42]. Drought can also affect the growth and architectural properties of roots [43], potentially reshaping microbiome composition [44,45].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought duration determines the recovery dynamics of rice root microbiomes

Santos‐Medellín¹,

Liechty²,

Edwards³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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As extreme droughts become more frequent, dissecting the responses of root-associated microbiomes to drying-wetting events is essential to understand their influence on plant performance. Here, we show that rhizosphere and endosphere communities associated with drought-stressed rice plants display compartment-specific recovery trends. Rhizosphere microorganisms were mostly affected during the stress period, whereas endosphere microorganisms remained altered even after irrigation was resumed. The duration of drought stress determined the stability of these changes, with more prolonged droughts leading to decreased microbiome resilience. Drought stress was also linked to a permanent delay in the temporal development of root microbiomes, mainly driven by a disruption of late colonization dynamics. Furthermore, a root-growth-promoting Streptomyces became the most abundant community member in the endosphere during drought and early recovery. Collectively, these results reveal that severe drought results in enduring impacts on root-associated microbiomes that could potentially reshape the recovery response of rice plants.

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Plant root exudation under drought: implications for ecosystem functioning

Cited by 378 publications

References 55 publications

Root uptake under mismatched distributions of water and nutrients in the root zone

Root uptake under mismatched distributions of water and nutrients in the root zone

Rewiring of peatland plant-microbe networks outpaces species turnover

Drought duration determines the recovery dynamics of rice root microbiomes

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