Dataset Information

Plant Phenotypic Traits Eventually Shape Its Microbiota: A Common Garden Test.

ABSTRACT: Plant genotype drives the development of plant phenotypes and the assembly of plant microbiota. The potential influence of the plant phenotypic characters on its microbiota is not well characterized and the co-occurrence interrelations for specific microbial taxa and plant phenotypic characters are poorly understood. We established a common garden experiment, which quantifies prokaryotic and fungal communities in the phyllosphere and rhizosphere of six spruce (Picea spp.) tree species, through Illumina amplicon sequencing. We tested for relationships between bacterial/archaeal and fungal communities and for the phenotypic characters of their plant hosts. Host phenotypic characters including leaf length, leaf water content, leaf water storage capacity, leaf dry mass per area, leaf nitrogen content, leaf phosphorous content, leaf potassium content, leaf ?13C values, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, intercellular carbon dioxide concentration, and transpiration rate were significantly correlated with the diversity and composition of the bacterial/archaeal and fungal communities. These correlations between plant microbiota and suites of host plant phenotypic characters suggest that plant genotype shape its microbiota by driving the development of plant phenotypes. This will advance our understanding of plant-microbe associations and the drivers of variation in plant and ecosystem function.

SUBMITTER: Li Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6232875 | biostudies-other | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Plant Phenotypic Traits Eventually Shape Its Microbiota: A Common Garden Test.

Li Yunshi Y Wu Xiukun X Chen Tuo T Wang Wanfu W Liu Guangxiu G Zhang Wei W Li Shiweng S Wang Minghao M Zhao Changming C Zhou Huaizhe H Zhang Gaosen G

Frontiers in microbiology 20181106

Plant genotype drives the development of plant phenotypes and the assembly of plant microbiota. The potential influence of the plant phenotypic characters on its microbiota is not well characterized and the co-occurrence interrelations for specific microbial taxa and plant phenotypic characters are poorly understood. We established a common garden experiment, which quantifies prokaryotic and fungal communities in the phyllosphere and rhizosphere of six spruce (<i>Picea</i> spp.) tree species, th ...[more]

PMID: 30459725

Similar Datasets

Project description:Abiotic global change drivers affect ecosystem structure and function, but how they interact with biotic factors such as invasive plants is understudied. Such interactions may be additive, synergistic, or offsetting, and difficult to predict. We present methods to test the individual and interactive effects of drought and plant invasion on native ecosystems. We coupled a factorial common garden experiment containing resident communities exposed to drought (imposed with rainout shelters) and invasion with a field experiment where the invader was removed from sites spanning a natural soil moisture gradient. We detail treatments and their effects on abiotic conditions, including soil moisture, light, temperature, and humidity, which shape community and ecosystem responses. Ambient precipitation during the garden experiment exceeded historic norms despite severe drought in prior years. Soil moisture was 48% lower in drought than ambient plots, but the invader largely offset drought effects. Additionally, temperature and light were lower and humidity higher in invaded plots. Field sites spanned up to a 10-fold range in soil moisture and up to a 2.5-fold range in light availability. Invaded and resident vegetation did not differentially mediate soil moisture, unlike in the garden experiment. Herbicide effectively removed invaded and resident vegetation, with removal having site-specific effects on soil moisture and light availability. However, light was generally higher in invader-removal than control plots, whereas resident removal had less effect on light, similar to the garden experiment. Invasion mitigated a constellation of abiotic conditions associated with drought stress in the garden experiment. In the field, where other factors co-varied, these patterns did not emerge. Still, neither experiment suggested that drought and invasion will have synergistic negative effects on ecosystems, although invasion can limit light availability. Coupling factorial garden experiments with field experiments across environmental gradients will be effective for predicting how multiple stressors interact in natural systems.

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

Plant Phenotypic Traits Eventually Shape Its Microbiota: A Common Garden Test.

Publications

Plant Phenotypic Traits Eventually Shape Its Microbiota: A Common Garden Test.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets