Dataset Information

Assessment of Habitat Suitability Is Affected by Plant-Soil Feedback: Comparison of Field and Garden Experiment.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Field translocation experiments (i.e., the introduction of seeds or seedlings of different species into different localities) are commonly used to study habitat associations of species, as well as factors limiting species distributions and local abundances. Species planted or sown in sites where they naturally occur are expected to perform better or equally well compared to sites at which they do not occur or are rare. This, however, contrasts with the predictions of the Janzen-Connell hypothesis and commonly reported intraspecific negative plant-soil feedback. The few previous studies indicating poorer performance of plants at sites where they naturally occur did not explore the mechanisms behind this pattern. AIMS AND METHODS:In this study, we used field translocation experiments established using both seeds and seedlings to study the determinants of local abundance of four dominant species in grasslands. To explore the possible effects of intraspecific negative plant-soil feedback on our results, we tested the effect of local species abundance on the performance of the plants in the field experiment. In addition, we set up a garden experiment to explore the intensity of intraspecific as well as interspecific feedback between the dominants used in the experiment. KEY RESULTS:In some cases, the distribution and local abundances of the species were partly driven by habitat conditions at the sites, and species performed better at their own sites. However, the prevailing pattern was that the local dominants performed worse at sites where they naturally occur than at any other sites. Moreover, the success of plants in the field experiment was lower in the case of higher intraspecific abundance prior to experimental setup. In the garden feedback experiment, two of the species performed significantly worse in soils conditioned by their species than in soils conditioned by the other species. In addition, the performance of the plants was significantly correlated between the two experiments, suggesting that plant-soil feedback is a likely explanation of the patterns observed in the field. CONCLUSIONS:All of the results indicate that intraspecific negative plant-soil feedback, either biotic or abiotic, may be a key factor determining the performance of the plants in our field translocation experiment. The possible effects of negative feedback should thus be considered when evaluating results of translocation experiments in future studies.

SUBMITTER: Hemrova L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4919064 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Assessment of Habitat Suitability Is Affected by Plant-Soil Feedback: Comparison of Field and Garden Experiment.

Hemrová Lucie L Knappová Jana J Münzbergová Zuzana Z

PloS one 20160623 6

<h4>Background</h4>Field translocation experiments (i.e., the introduction of seeds or seedlings of different species into different localities) are commonly used to study habitat associations of species, as well as factors limiting species distributions and local abundances. Species planted or sown in sites where they naturally occur are expected to perform better or equally well compared to sites at which they do not occur or are rare. This, however, contrasts with the predictions of the Janze ...[more]

PMID: 27336400

Similar Datasets

Project description:Plant-soil feedback (PSF) has gained attention as a mechanism promoting plant growth and coexistence. However, most PSF research has measured monoculture growth in greenhouse conditions. Translating PSFs into effects on plant growth in field communities remains an important frontier for PSF research. Using a 4-year, factorial field experiment in Jena, Germany, we measured the growth of nine grassland species on soils conditioned by each of the target species (i.e., 72 PSFs). Plant community models were parameterized with or without these PSF effects, and model predictions were compared to plant biomass production in diversity-productivity experiments. Plants created soils that changed subsequent plant biomass by 40%. However, because they were both positive and negative, the average PSF effect was 14% less growth on "home" than on "away" soils. Nine-species plant communities produced 29 to 37% more biomass for polycultures than for monocultures due primarily to selection effects. With or without PSF, plant community models predicted 28%-29% more biomass for polycultures than for monocultures, again due primarily to selection effects. Synthesis: Despite causing 40% changes in plant biomass, PSFs had little effect on model predictions of plant community biomass across a range of species richness. While somewhat surprising, a lack of a PSF effect was appropriate in this site because species richness effects in this study were caused by selection effects and not complementarity effects (PSFs are a complementarity mechanism). Our plant community models helped us describe several reasons that even large PSF may not affect plant productivity. Notably, we found that dominant species demonstrated small PSF, suggesting there may be selective pressure for plants to create neutral PSF. Broadly, testing PSFs in plant communities in field conditions provided a more realistic understanding of how PSFs affect plant growth in communities in the context of other species traits.

Project description:The contamination of soil with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) may result in dramatic consequences and needs great attention, as soil rehabilitation would need more effort from a sustainability perspective. However, there is still no known general method since the remediation technology is strictly site-specific. Adaptive biological system dynamics can play a key role in understanding and addressing the potential of situ-specific biological combinations for soil pollutants removal. The potential worst-case of TPH contamination reflects soil affected by heavy industrial activities, such as oil refineries. Therefore, the experimental trial was conducted on a 2,000 m2 area from a contaminated site located in northern Italy. We evaluated the remediation potential over time (270 days) assessing (i) the phytoremediation efficiency of two species of Poaceae (Festuca arundinacea Schreb. and Dactylis glomerata L.) and two species of Fabaceae (Medicago sativa L. and Lotus corniculatus L.) and (ii) the role of the indigenous bacteria flora and endo-mycorrhizae consortium addition in plant growth promotion. We also induced resistance to contamination stress in a field experiment. Thirty-three indigenous bacteria selected from the contaminated soils showed marked plant growth promotion. Moreover, functional metagenomics confirmed the metabolic capability of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms living in the polluted soil. Our data showed that soil enzymatic activities increased with hydrocarbon degradation rate after 60 days. Both Poaceae and Fabaceae resulted in remarkable remediation potential. Stress markers and antioxidant activity indicated that the selected plant species generally need some time to adapt to TPH stress. In conclusion, our evaluation implied both the rhizosphere effects and functional features of the plant and suggested that plants should (i) have marked tolerance to specific contaminants, (ii) be characterized by an extensive root system, and (iii) be susceptible to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) infection.

Project description:Backgrounds and aimsNegative plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are thought to promote species coexistence, but most evidence is derived from theoretical models and data from plant monoculture experiments.MethodsWe grew Anthoxanthum odoratum and Centaurea jacea in field plots in monocultures and in mixtures with three ratios (3:1, 2:2 and 1:3) for three years. We then tested in a greenhouse experiment the performance of A. odoratum and C. jacea in pots planted with monocultures and 1:1 mixtures and filled with live and sterile soils collected from the field plots.ResultsIn the greenhouse experiment, C. jacea produced less aboveground biomass in soil conditioned by C. jacea monocultures than in soil conditioned by A. odoratum monocultures, while the aboveground biomass of A. odoratum in general did not differ between the two monospecific soils. The negative PSF effect was greater in the 1:1 plant mixture than in plant monocultures for A. odoratum but did not differ for C. jacea. In the greenhouse experiment, the performance of C. jacea relative to A. odoratum in the 1:1 plant mixture was negatively correlated to the abundance of C. jacea in the field plot where the soil was collected from. This relationship was significant both in live and sterile soils. However, there was no relationship between the performance of A. odoratum relative to C. jacea in the 1:1 plant mixture in the greenhouse experiment and the abundance of A. odoratum in the field plots.ConclusionsThe response of a plant to PSF depends on whether the focal species grows in monocultures or in mixtures and on the identity of the species. Interspecific competition can exacerbate the negative plant-soil feedbacks compared to intraspecific competition when a plant competes with a stronger interspecific competitor. Moreover, the abundance of a species in mixed plant communities, via plant-soil feedback, negatively influences the relative competitiveness of that species when it grows later in interspecific competition, but this effect varies between species. This phenomenon may contribute to the coexistence of competing plants under natural conditions through preventing the dominance of a particular plant species.

Project description:The way functional traits affect growth of plant species may be highly context-specific. We asked which combinations of trait values are advantageous under field conditions in managed grasslands as compared to conditions without competition and land-use. In a two-year field experiment, we recorded the performance of 93 species transplanted into German grassland communities differing in land-use intensity and into a common garden, where species grew unaffected by land-use under favorable conditions regarding soil, water, and space. The plants' performance was characterized by two independent dimensions (relative growth rates (RGR) of height and leaf length vs. aboveground biomass and survival) that were differently related to the eight focal key traits in our study (leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), height, leaf anatomy, leaf persistence, leaf distribution, vegetative reproduction, and physical defense). We applied multivariate procrustes analyses to test for the correspondence of the optimal trait-performance relationships between field and common garden conditions. RGRs were species-specific and species ranks of RGRs in the field, and the common garden were significantly correlated. Different traits explained the performance in the field and the common garden; for example, leaf anatomy traits explained species performance only in the field, whereas plant height was found to be only important in the common garden. The ability to reproduce vegetatively, having leaves that are summer-persistent and with high leaf dry matter content (LDMC) were traits of major importance under both settings, albeit the magnitude of their influence differed slightly between the field and the common garden experiment. All optimal models included interactions between traits, pointing out the necessity to analyze traits in combination. The differences between field and common garden clearly demonstrate context dependency of trait-based growth models, which results in limited transferability of favorable trait combinations between different environmental settings.

Dataset Information

Assessment of Habitat Suitability Is Affected by Plant-Soil Feedback: Comparison of Field and Garden Experiment.

Publications

Assessment of Habitat Suitability Is Affected by Plant-Soil Feedback: Comparison of Field and Garden Experiment.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets