Unravelling the effects of plant species diversity and aboveground litter input on soil bacterial communities

AbstractSoil microbes are known to be involved in a number of essential ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, plant productivity and the maintenance of plant species diversity. However, how plant species diversity and identity affect soil microbial diversity and community composition is largely unknown. We tested whether, over the course of 11 years, distinct soil bacterial communities developed under plant monocultures and mixtures, and if over this timeframe plants with a monoculture or mixture history changed in the microbial communities they associated with. For eight species, we grew offspring of plants that had been grown for 11 years in the same monocultures or mixtures (monoculture- or mixture-type plants) in pots inoculated with microbes extracted from the monoculture and mixture soils. After five months of growth in the glasshouse, we collected rhizosphere soil from each plant and used 16S-rRNA gene sequencing to determine the community composition and diversity of the bacterial communities. Microbial community structure in the plant rhizosphere was primarily determined by soil legacy (monoculture vs. mixture soil) and by plant species identity, but not by plant legacy (monoculture- vs. mixture-type plants). In seven out of the eight plant species bacterial abundance was larger when inoculated with microbes from mixture soil. We conclude that plant diversity can strongly affect belowground community composition and diversity, feeding back to the assemblage of rhizosphere microbial communities in newly establishing plants. Thereby our work demonstrates that concerns for plant biodiversity loss are also concerns for soil biodiversity loss.

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Species Diversity and Functional Prediction of Soil Bacterial Communities in Constructed Wetlands with Different Plant Conditions

Current Microbiology ◽

10.1007/s00284-019-01634-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 76 (3) ◽

pp. 338-345 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Weiguo Fu ◽

Yuxuan Wang ◽

Wei Wei ◽

Pingping Li

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Constructed Wetlands ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Functional Prediction ◽

Soil Bacterial Communities ◽

Soil Bacterial

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Effects of the invasive plant garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) on bacterial communities in a northern hardwood forest soil

Canadian Journal of Microbiology ◽

10.1139/w09-100 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 81-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

David J. Burke ◽

Charlotte R. Chan

Keyword(s):

Forest Soil ◽

Plant Species ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Native Plants ◽

Soil Samples ◽

Alliaria Petiolata ◽

Garlic Mustard ◽

Soil Bacterial Communities ◽

Soil Bacterial

We compared the effects of the invasive plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and 2 native plants on soil bacterial communities in a mature mesophytic forest. Soil samples were collected from plant patches containing either Alliaria or the native plants Allium tricoccum (wild leek) and Gallium triflorum (bedstraw). Since Alliaria litter contains secondary compounds that have reported antimicrobial properties, soil was collected outside the root zone of the plants but within the plant patches such that the soil would have been influenced by the litter of the respective plant species but not by plant roots. DNA was extracted from the soil samples and used to amplify the 16S rRNA gene region using bacterial specific primers. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) profiles of each bacterial community were used to examine differences in bacterial communities among the plant species and between August and April sampling. Bacterial richness, evenness, and diversity were not significantly affected by plant species. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) suggested that differences existed between August and April sampling, but that plant species litter exerted a much weaker effect on soil bacterial communities. Soil physiochemical conditions were significantly correlated with soil bacterial communities and may underlie the observed seasonal changes in bacterial communities.

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Positive correlation between soil bacterial metabolic and plant species diversity and bacterial and fungal diversity in a vegetation succession on Karst

Plant and Soil ◽

10.1007/s11104-008-9590-8 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 307 (1-2) ◽

pp. 123-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Xun-Yang He ◽

Ke-Lin Wang ◽

Wei Zhang ◽

Zhi-Hui Chen ◽

Yong-Guan Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Plant Species ◽

Fungal Diversity ◽

Vegetation Succession ◽

Plant Species Diversity ◽

Positive Correlation ◽

Soil Bacterial

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Going Beyond Soil Conservation with the Use of Cover Crops in Mediterranean Sloping Olive Orchards

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11071387 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 1387

Author(s):

Luis F. Arias-Giraldo ◽

Gema Guzmán ◽

Miguel Montes-Borrego ◽

David Gramaje ◽

José A. Gómez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Functional Properties ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Cover Crop ◽

Bacterial Community Composition ◽

Undisturbed Soil ◽

Soil Bacterial Communities ◽

Spontaneous Vegetation ◽

Soil Bacterial

Among the agricultural practices promoted by the Common Agricultural Policy to increase soil functions, the use of cover crops is a recommended tool to improve the sustainability of Mediterranean woody crops such as olive orchards. However, there is a broad range of cover crop typologies in relation to its implementation, control and species composition. In that sense, the influence of different plant species on soil quality indicators in olive orchards remains unknown yet. This study describes the effects of four treatments based on the implementation of different ground covers (CC-GRA: sown cover crop with gramineous, CC-MIX: sown cover crop with a mixture of species and CC-NAT: cover crop with spontaneous vegetation) and conventional tillage (TILL) on soil erosion, soil physicochemical and biological properties after 8 years of cover crop establishment. Our results demonstrated that the presence of a temporary cover crop (CC), compared to a soil under tillage (TILL), can reduce soil losses and maintain good soil physicochemical properties and modify greatly the structure and diversity of soil bacterial communities and its functioning. The presence of a homogeneous CC of gramineous (Lolium rigidum or Lolilum multiflorum) (CC-GR) for 8 years increased the functional properties of the soil as compared to TILL; although the most relevant change was a modification on the bacterial community composition that was clearly different from the rest of treatments. On the other hand, the use of a mixture of plant species (CC-MIX) as a CC for only two years although did not modify greatly the structure and diversity of soil bacterial communities compared to the TILL soil, induced significant changes on the functional properties of the soil and reverted those properties to a level similar to that of an undisturbed soil that had maintained a natural cover of spontaneous vegetation for decades (CC-NAT).

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