Predicting the structure of soil communities from plant community taxonomy, phylogeny, and traits

Leff, Jonathan W.; Bardgett, Richard D.; Wilkinson, Anna; Jackson, Benjamin G.; Pritchard, William J.; De Long, Jonathan R.; Oakley, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5757-7420; Mason, Kelly E.; Ostle, Nicholas J.; Johnson, David; Baggs, Elizabeth M.; Fierer, Noah. 2018 Predicting the structure of soil communities from plant community taxonomy, phylogeny, and traits. ISME Journal, 12 (7). 1794-1805. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0089-x

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0089-x

Abstract/Summary

There are numerous ways in which plants can influence the composition of soil communities. However, it remains unclear whether information on plant community attributes, including taxonomic, phylogenetic, or trait-based composition, can be used to predict the structure of soil communities. We tested, in both monocultures and field-grown mixed temperate grassland communities, whether plant attributes predict soil communities including taxonomic groups from across the tree of life (fungi, bacteria, protists, and metazoa). The composition of all soil community groups was affected by plant species identity, both in monocultures and in mixed communities. Moreover, plant community composition predicted additional variation in soil community composition beyond what could be predicted from soil abiotic characteristics. In addition, analysis of the field aboveground plant community composition and the composition of plant roots suggests that plant community attributes are better predictors of soil communities than root distributions. However, neither plant phylogeny nor plant traits were strong predictors of soil communities in either experiment. Our results demonstrate that grassland plant species form specific associations with soil community members and that information on plant species distributions can improve predictions of soil community composition. These results indicate that specific associations between plant species and complex soil communities are key determinants of biodiversity patterns in grassland soils.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0089-x
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	1751-7362
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Publisher link (see Related URLs) provides a view-only full text copy of the final paper.
Additional Keywords:	biogeography, ecosystem ecology, grassland ecology, microbial ecology
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date made live:	05 Apr 2018 11:13 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/519751

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0089-x

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)

ISSN:

1751-7362

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Publisher link (see Related URLs) provides a view-only full text copy of the final paper.

Additional Keywords:

biogeography, ecosystem ecology, grassland ecology, microbial ecology