Download or read book The Next Step Disentangling the Role of Plant Soil Feedbacks in Plant Performance and Species Coexistence Under Natural Conditions written by Johannes Heinze and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2020-09-17 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.
Download or read book Plant Species Coexistence written by Chelsea Cunard and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plant soil feedbacks, specifically soil microbial communities, have been proposed to affect plant species' relative abundances and stabilize coexistence within a community. Negative plant soil feedbacks, where plant species condition microbial communities detrimental to conspecifics, may promote coexistence and plant diversity within a community both by lowering overall fitness and creating negative frequency dependence, i.e. stabilizing niche differences. Positive plant soil feedbacks, where plant species condition communities beneficial to conspecifics, may promote the dominance of a species through increased overall fitness and reduced negative frequency dependence. Invasive species can disrupt coexistence and reduce resident species abundance and diversity in its invaded range, potentially due to a more neutral to positive interaction with the soil microbial community resulting from an escape from specialized pests and pathogens in its native range. However, a more antagonistic soil community could accumulate through time to reduce the dominance of the invader and promote coexistence between it and native plant species. We explored whether the propensity to coexist increased due to the presence of soil biota, as well as whether the likelihood of coexistence increased across invasion history for invasive Microstegium vimineum and native plants due to changes in the soil community. In an observational study across M. vimineum's invasive range in the eastern United States, we found a decline in M. vimineum's survival at low frequency and changes in its soil/root fungal community across invasion history. In a 2-year field experiment negative frequency dependence increased for M. vimineum across invasion history in conspecific conditioned soil. Finally, in a greenhouse experiment we found that the soil community promoted coexistence of M. vimineum and native Pilea pumila through increased stabilizing niche differences. These results combined show that the soil community promotes coexistence through stabilizing interactions and that the likelihood of coexistence between invasive M. vimineum and native plants is potentially increasing through invasion time due to an accumulation of an antagonistic soil community.
Download or read book Quantifying the Effects of Spatial Environmental Variation and Soil Microbes on Plant Community Dynamics written by Gaurav Sunil Kandlikar and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the processes that determine the diversity and dynamics of plant communities is a longstanding challenge in ecology. Many studies have inferred the role of demographic processes by studying patterns of functional trait variation in natural communities, but studies explicitly linking such functional trait differences to demographic processes are lacking. There has also been a growing realization that the dynamics of plant communities are also influenced by the composition of the soil microbial community, but despite hundreds of empirical studies, predicting the influence of soil microbes on the diversity and dynamics of natural plant communities remains a challenge. In my dissertation I couple ecological theory with field and greenhouse experiments to build a more complete and generalizable understanding of the processes that control plant biodiversity. In Chapter One, I ask whether community-wide shifts in three key plant functional traits across an environmental gradient reflect variation in the trait-performance relationship across the landscape. To address this question I coupled observational data of variation in plant composition and functional with experimental data on species performance across the same landscape. I asked whether observed trait-environment interactions in the experimental data match observed patterns of trait variation. I found that shifts in community-weighted mean traits generally reflect the direction of trait-environment interactions. But on the whole, the interactions we found were weak, and by themselves might not be sufficient to explain community-wide shifts. This supports the value of plant functional traits for predicting species responses to environmental variation, and highlights a need for more detailed evaluation of how trait-performance relationships change across environments to improve such predictions. Chapters Two and Three focus on how soil microbes can influence diversity in plant communities. Chapter Two begins with a re-analysis of a classic framework that has been extensively used to study how feedbacks between plants and soil microbes can influence species coexistence. A great deal of existing theoretical and empirical work has shown that soil microbes can promote plant coexistence when they generate stabilizing feedback loops, or can drive exclusion when they generate destabilizing feedback loops. I applied insights from modern coexistence theory to show that existing work has largely neglected another avenue by which plant-soil feedbacks can mediate plant coexistence, by driving average fitness differences between plants. This chapter also extends classic models of plant-soil feedback to include more biological detail to show how the effects of plant-soil feedback on plant coexistence depends critically on how plants interact with each other through other processes like resource competition. In the final chapter of my dissertation, I applied the insights from Chapter Two to ask how plant-soil feedbacks influence diversity in southern California annual grassland communities. I conducted a greenhouse experiment to quantify microbially mediated stabilization and fitness differences among fifteen pairs of annual plants. We found that soil microbes frequently generate negative frequency-dependent dynamics that stabilize plant interactions, but they simultaneously generate large average fitness differences between species. The net result is that if the plant species are otherwise competitively equivalent, soil microbes would often drive exclusion among the focal species. This work illustrates the importance of quantifying microbially mediated fitness differences, and points to important avenues for future studies on how soil microbes shape plant diversity.
Download or read book Plant induced soil changes Processes and feedbacks written by Nico van Breemen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book by soil scientists and ecologists reviews how and why plants influence soils. Topics include effects on mineral weathering, soil structure, and soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics, case studies of soil-plant interactions in specific biomes and of secondary chemicals influencing nutrient cycling, the rhizosphere, and potential evolutionary consequences of plant-induced soil changes. This is the first volume that specifically highlights the effects of plants on soils and their feedbacks to plants. By contrast, other texts on soil-plant relationships emphasize effects of soil fertility on plants, following the strongly agronomic character of most research in this area. The aspects discussed in this volume are crucial for understanding terrestrial ecosystems, biogeochemistry and soil genesis. The book is directed to terrestrial ecologists, foresters, soil scientists, environmental scientists and biogeochemists, and to students following specialist courses in these fields.
Download or read book Negative Mycorrhizal Feedback and Plant Species Coexistence in a Serpentine Grassland written by Jeffrey Paul Castelli and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Plant Soil Negative Feedbacks as Drivers of Spatial Patterns of Abundance in a Successional Landscape written by Lucy D. Christiana and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Negative plant-soil feedbacks describe a phenomenon-resulting from interactions between plants and their soil biota, particularly fungal pathogens. These highly dynamic local above- and below-ground interactions may be a way that biodiversity levels are maintained: even if one plant species is a strong competitor, its pathogens suppress its dominance, allowing for the coexistence of multiple plant species. I am interested in how negative feedbacks play a role in determining plant community assembly patterns in a landscape-scale fragmentation field site (Lawrence, Kansas) for which I have over 30 years of historical vegetation data. I built a spatially-explicit cellular automata model of the spatial dynamics of one species, Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) over time, across both continuous and fragmented landscapes. Using empirical data from 1985 to set initial conditions, I simulated 32 years of vegetation change and compared the spatial distribution of ragweed in the model to the actual spatial organization of plants from the field site vegetation surveys in 2017. Exploring the spread of ragweed over space and time I asked: as plant communities undergo succession, what spatial patterns of abundance will I observe if negative plant-soil feedbacks are a key driver of plant community composition? Further, how does fragmentation affect these patterns? The model shows that there is a wide range of negative feedback strengths that allow for percent cover levels that resemble the historical data. On the other hand, occupancy, the proportion of samples in which a species is present, requires a much more sensitive range of feedback strengths in order to resemble historical data. In order to yield realistic historical species abundance patterns in the absence of feedbacks, there must be high levels of generalized seed mortality due to other processes. While this model a step towards a more integrated above- and below-ground analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of plant community assembly dynamics, more variables such as abiotic factors, and temporal changes in feedback strength and direction throughout succession must be accounted for, as well as response variables that more accurately represent these patterns.
Download or read book Interactions in Soil Promoting Plant Growth written by John Dighton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates soil ecology and biodiversity for its ability to maintain a balance of beneficial organisms to support plant growth. This subject is discussed by a group of international authors in natural, agricultural and urban systems. The importance of biodiversity per se and, specifically, the feedbacks between the plant and soil biota in mediating soil function are emphasized. Examples are selected from allelopathy and invasive plant species along with the, hitherto overlooked, role of viruses in soil. The book is intended to provide a framework for a holistic understanding of the essential role of soil organisms in promoting plant growth.
Download or read book Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Plant soil Feedbacks written by Michael E. Van Nuland and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plants interact with, modify, and are affected by their soil environments. Though plant-soil interactions are well known to be important and active regulators of ecosystem function and community structure, much less is known about how these interactions affect plant evolution. The primary goal of my dissertation was to examine plant-soil interactions under a range of ecological and evolutionary contexts to better understand patterns of biodiversity, ecosystem function, and whole system responses to environmental change. Taking such an eco-evolutionary perspective allows for a holistic understanding of the causes and consequences of complex abiotic and biotic interactions that link ecosystem ecology and evolution. In my first chapter, I reviewed what is known about genetic interactions between plants, soils, and soil communities, and in doing so, identified a new mechanism for how genetically based plant-soil feedbacks might emerge at large scales. In my second chapter, I used field observations and multiple experimental approaches to test whether soil N acts as a selective gradient on plant phenotypes, if soil microbial communities mediate the selective pressure, and whether plant genetic variation impacts soil N pools. In my third chapter, I developed climate and soil ecological niche models, combined with a new double quantile regression approach, to tests how traits are adapted or plastic at critical environmental limits. Finally, my fourth chapter examined how plant-soil interactions and feedbacks at landscape scales may influence range dynamics and associated ecosystem processes as species move upwards towards higher elevations with rising temperatures. Overall, my dissertation sought to bring an evolutionary perspective to ecosystem ecology research by investigating the genetic mechanisms and outcomes of plant-soil interactions.
Download or read book Plant soil Feedbacks in a Grassland Ecosystem written by Kobe N. Luu and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) occur when plants alter soil conditions, subsequently affecting plant success. This process may play a key role in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Many PSF experiments have reported species-specific responses and there is growing interest in determining whether the response of plant functional groups (PFGs), in which species are grouped by similar plant functional traits, can be used to predict the likelihood of PSFs. One reason for the variable responses reported is that PSFs can be dependent on soil fertility, which can serve as a general indicator of succession and ecosystem development. To test how plant functional groups and soil fertility relate to PSF, we grew 19 grassland species from 3 functional groups (graminoids, forbs, legumes) in 3 levels of soil fertility for 4 years. We used this field conditioned soil to conduct greenhouse assays of plant growth rates for species representing each PFG. We found that on average, forbs exhibited positive PSF in the most-developed soil, while the graminoids and legumes exhibited negative PSFs regardless of soil fertility. Despite these trends, we found strong species-specific and soil fertility effects on PSF. These results most likely emerged due to the species-specific soil biota that accumulates over time during the conditioning phase, which includes both harmful and beneficial biota, with the net PSF effect determined by the dominant influence. Generally, we found that PSFs became more positive/less negative as soil fertility increased, most likely due to the increased nutrient concentrations and beneficial soil biota outweighing the effects of the harmful soil biota and lack of soil nutrients. These findings help to understand that different species have unique roles in plant community dynamics, and that their roles within the community are going to change over time, as is total ecosystem productivity.
Download or read book Plant Evolution Soil Ecosystems and Feedback written by Connor Fitzpatrick and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plants are inextricably linked to their environment. They can alter biotic and abiotic properties of soil ecosystems, which in turn can feed back to affect plant performance. My thesis explores this dynamic link between plants and soil at microevolutionary (within plant species) and macroevolutionary (between plant species) scales. In the microevolutionary half of my thesis I first test whether genetic variation, range-wide geographic trait clines and contemporary evolution in the focal plant species Oenothera biennis (Onagraceae) influence soil ecosystems. I found strong effects of plant genetic variation and evolution, but not geographic origin, on the structure of soil invertebrate communities and ecosystem processes such as soil respiration, litter decay and N mineralization rates. Finally, to understand how soil may be influencing plant evolution, I test whether variation in soil microbial communities can alter plant evolution across two common environmental stressors, competition and drought. I found that soil microbes drastically modify plant fitness, the expression of, and natural selection on flowering time. In the macroevolutionary half of my thesis I use a set of co-occurring plant species to investigate how evolutionary divergence over longer timescales influences plant-soil interactions. First, I conducted a multi-generational experiment to understand the drivers of plant-soil feedback (PSF) across 50 plant species. I found that evolutionary divergence and overall phenotypic similarity were poor predictors of soil feedback, however individual plant traits were strongly related to PSF. Next, I characterized the assembly and ecological function of the root microbiome across 30 plant species. Close plant relative exhibited high similarity in the diversity and composition of their root microbiota. Furthermore, patterns of root microbial recruitment among host plant species were related to PSF and plant drought tolerance. My thesis provides a unique evolutionary perspective on the reciprocal interactions between plants and soil.
Download or read book Root Ecology written by Hans de Kroon and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003-05-21 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the course of evolution, a great variety of root systems have learned to overcome the many physical, biochemical and biological problems brought about by soil. This development has made them a fascinating object of scientific study. This volume gives an overview of how roots have adapted to the soil environment and which roles they play in the soil ecosystem. The text describes the form and function of roots, their temporal and spatial distribution, and their turnover rate in various ecosystems. Subsequently, a physiological background is provided for basic functions, such as carbon acquisition, water and solute movement, and for their responses to three major abiotic stresses, i.e. hard soil structure, drought and flooding. The volume concludes with the interactions of roots with other organisms of the complex soil ecosystem, including symbiosis, competition, and the function of roots as a food source.
Download or read book Positive Interactions and Interdependence in Plant Communities written by Ragan M. Callaway and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-08-28 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book marshals ecological literature from the last century on facilitation to make the case against the widely accepted individualistic notion of community organization. It examines the idea that positive interactions are more prevalent in physically stressful conditions. Coverage also includes species specificity in facilitative interactions, indirect facilitative interactions, and potential evolutionary aspects of positive interactions.
Download or read book The Nature of Plant Communities written by J. Bastow Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive review of the role of species interactions in the process of plant community assembly.
Download or read book Plant Ecology written by Ernst-Detlef Schulze and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-02-18 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook covers Plant Ecology from the molecular to the global level. It covers the following areas in unprecedented breadth and depth: - Molecular ecophysiology (stress physiology: light, temperature, oxygen deficiency, drought, salt, heavy metals, xenobiotica and biotic stress factors) - Autecology (whole plant ecology: thermal balance, water, nutrient, carbon relations) - Ecosystem ecology (plants as part of ecosystems, element cycles, biodiversity) - Synecology (development of vegetation in time and space, interactions between vegetation and the abiotic and biotic environment) - Global aspects of plant ecology (global change, global biogeochemical cycles, land use, international conventions, socio-economic interactions) The book is carefully structured and well written: complex issues are elegantly presented and easily understandable. It contains more than 500 photographs and drawings, mostly in colour, illustrating the fascinating subject. The book is primarily aimed at graduate students of biology but will also be of interest to post-graduate students and researchers in botany, geosciences and landscape ecology. Further, it provides a sound basis for those dealing with agriculture, forestry, land use, and landscape management.
Download or read book Diversity and Integration in Mycorrhizas written by Sally E. Smith and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is highly recommended on the basis of the following points: - The editors are highly regarded in the field of mycorrhizal biology and one is co-author of the most comprehensive textbook on mycorrhizas; - Chapters by international experts based on invited presentations at the 3rd International Conference on Mycorrhizas, supplemented by invited chapters on special topics; - Mycorrhizas are being increasingly recognised as ubiquitous plant/fungal symbioses, with the potential to influence the function and ecology of around 90% of all land plants; perhaps the most common and also ancient terrestrial symbioses in existence; - This book has a broad coverage of biology of symbioses between mycorrhizal fungi and plants, especially ecto- and arbuscular mycorrhizas (other recent texts have focused mainly on arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses); - Forward-looking review chapters by keynote speakers including an overview of research challenges for the future; - Up-to-date research focus; - Coverage includes: molecular diversity and detection of mycorrhizal fungi; cellular and molecular interactions between the symbionts; physiology of the interactions; implications of the symbioses for ecosystem processes, including agriculture; - Several complementary chapters on some topics, ensuring that different perspectives are presented (recent edited volumes have had a smaller group of authors and hence narrower focus); - Readership from advanced undergraduate students in biology (particularly plant science), postgraduate students and researchers in universities and government agencies.
Download or read book Wildlife Disease Ecology written by Kenneth Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-14 with total page 693 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces readers to key case studies that illustrate how theory and data can be integrated to understand wildlife disease ecology.
Download or read book Handbook of Trait Based Ecology written by Francesco de Bello and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-11 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trait-based ecology is rapidly expanding. This comprehensive and accessible guide covers the main concepts and tools in functional ecology.
