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Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities.
Ann. Bot. 114, 1011-1021 (2014)
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Abiotic properties of soil are known to be major drivers of the microbial community within it. Our understanding of how soil microbial properties are related to the functional structure and diversity of plant communities, however, is limited and largely restricted to above-ground plant traits, with the role of below-ground traits being poorly understood. This study investigated the relative contributions of soil abiotic properties and plant traits, both above-ground and below-ground, to variations in microbial processes involved in grassland nitrogen turnover. METHODS: In mountain grasslands distributed across three European sites, a correlative approach was used to examine the role of a large range of plant functional traits and soil abiotic factors on microbial variables, including gene abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers and their potential activities. KEY RESULTS: Direct effects of soil abiotic parameters were found to have the most significant influence on the microbial groups investigated. Indirect pathways via plant functional traits contributed substantially to explaining the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria and gene abundances of the investigated microbial communities, while they explained little of the variance in microbial activities. Gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers were most strongly related to below-ground plant traits, suggesting that they were the most relevant traits for explaining variation in community structure and abundances of soil microbes involved in nitrification and denitrification. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that consideration of plant traits, and especially below-ground traits, increases our ability to describe variation in the abundances and the functional characteristics of microbial communities in grassland soils.
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Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Keywords
Ammonia-oxidizing Archaea ; Bacteria ; Denitrifiers ; Leaf Traits ; Nitrite Oxidizers ; Nitrite Reducers ; Nutrient Availability ; Plant Functional Traits ; Root Traits ; Soil Microbial Community; Leaf Traits; Land-use; Economics Spectrum; Ecosystem Services; Mountain Grassland; Paddy Soils; Diversity; Root; Biomass; Carbon
ISSN (print) / ISBN
0305-7364
e-ISSN
1095-8290
Journal
Annals of Botany
Quellenangaben
Volume: 114,
Issue: 5,
Pages: 1011-1021
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publishing Place
Oxford
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Comparative Microbiome Analysis (COMI)