scholarly journals Linkages of plant traits to soil properties and the functioning of temperate grassland

2010 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 1074-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate H. Orwin ◽  
Sarah M. Buckland ◽  
David Johnson ◽  
Benjamin L. Turner ◽  
Simon Smart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Temperate Grassland

scholarly journals Relationships between plant traits, soil properties and carbon fluxes differ between monocultures and mixed communities in temperate grassland

2019 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 1704-1719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. De Long ◽  
Benjamin G. Jackson ◽  
Anna Wilkinson ◽  
William J. Pritchard ◽  
Simon Oakley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Temperate Grassland ◽  
Mixed Communities

scholarly journals Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. eaau4578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Semchenko ◽  
Jonathan W. Leff ◽  
Yudi M. Lozano ◽  
Sirgi Saar ◽  
John Davison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Vegetation Dynamics ◽  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Temperate Grassland ◽  
Saprotrophic Fungi ◽  
Plant Resource ◽  
Plant Soil

Feedbacks between plants and soil microbial communities play an important role in vegetation dynamics, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we show that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal, and saprotrophic fungi is a primary regulator of plant-soil feedbacks across a broad range of temperate grassland plant species. We show that plant species with resource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thin roots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialist saprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plant growth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soil properties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils, promoting antagonistic relationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity to predict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamental links between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies, and the diversity of fungal guilds in soil.

scholarly journals Increased signal to noise ratios within experimental field trials by regressing spatially distributed soil properties as principal components.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C Berry ◽  
Mingsheng Qi ◽  
Balasaheb V Sonawane ◽  
Amy Sheflin ◽  
Asaph Cousins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Experimental System ◽  
Environmental Variation ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Spatially Distributed ◽  
Sorghum Genotypes

Environmental variability poses a major challenge to any field study. Researchers attempt to mitigate this challenge through replication. Thus, the ability to detect experimental signals is determined by the degree of replication and the amount of environmental variation, noise, within the experimental system. A major source of noise in field studies comes from the natural heterogeneity of soil properties which create micro-treatments throughout the field. To make matters worse, the variation within different soil properties is often non-randomly distributed across a field. We explore this challenge through a sorghum field trial dataset with accompanying plant, microbiome and soil property data. Diverse sorghum genotypes and two watering regimes were applied in a split-plot design. We describe a process of identifying, estimating, and controlling for the effects of spatially distributed soil properties on plant traits and microbial communities using minimal degrees of freedom. Importantly, this process provides a tool with which sources of environmental variation in field data can be identified and removed, improving our ability to resolve effects of interest and to quantify subtle phenotypes.

scholarly journals Grassland cutting regimes affect soil properties, and consequently vegetation composition and belowground plant traits

2012 ◽  
Vol 366 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 401-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten J. J. Schrama ◽  
Verena Cordlandwehr ◽  
Eric J. W. Visser ◽  
Theo M. Elzenga ◽  
Yzaak de Vries ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Cutting Regimes

scholarly journals Effect of Fertilizer Additions on Plant Communities and Soil Properties in a Temperate Grassland Steppe

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1533-1540
Author(s):  
Feng He ◽  
Zongyong Tong ◽  
Lixue Wang ◽  
Guiliang Zheng ◽  
Xianglin Li
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Temperate Grassland

Temporal changes in the spatial distributions of some soil properties on a temperate grassland site

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-362
Author(s):  
Z. Shi ◽  
K. Wang ◽  
J.S. Bailey ◽  
C. Jordan ◽  
A.H. Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Temporal Changes ◽  
Temperate Grassland ◽  
Spatial Distributions ◽  
Grassland Site

Contrasting responses of native and alien plant species to soil properties shed new light on the invasion of dune systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 667-675
Author(s):  
Stefano Vitti ◽  
Elisa Pellegrini ◽  
Valentino Casolo ◽  
Giacomo Trotta ◽  
Francesco Boscutti
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Soil Salinity ◽  
Plant Invasion ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Dune Systems

Abstract Aims Among terrestrial ecosystems, coastal sandy dunes are particularly prone to alien plant invasion. Many studies related the invasion of dune habitats to anthropic causes, but less is known about the role of soil properties and plant traits in plant invasion. In this study, we tested the relationships between soil features and alien plant invasion in dune systems, focusing on the interplay between soil nutrients, soil salinity and plant functional traits. Methods Study sites were sandy barrier islands of the Marano and Grado lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea). One hundred plots (4 m × 4 m) were selected within 10 areas according to the main habitats occurring along the ecological gradient of dune system (foredune, backdune and saltmarsh). In each plot, we recorded all plant species occurrence and abundance and we collected a soil core. For each soil sample, soil texture, conductivity (as proxy of soil salinity), organic carbon and nitrogen content were analyzed and related to the species number and cover of native and alien plants. Variation of main reproductive and vegetative functional traits among habitats was also analyzed for both alien and native species. Important Findings Soil properties were strongly related to overall plant diversity, by differently affecting alien and native species pools. In backdune, the most invaded habitat, a high soil conductivity limited the number of alien species, whereas the content of soil organic carbon increased along with alien plant abundance, suggesting also the occurrence of potential feedback processes between plant invasion and soil. We found a significant convergence between native and alien plant functional trait spectra only in backdune habitat, where environmental conditions ameliorate and plant competition increases. Our findings suggest that in harsh conditions only native specialized plants can thrive while at intermediate conditions, soil properties gradient acts in synergy with plant traits to curb/facilitate alien plant richness.

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