Abstract
Background and aims: Plant-soil feedbacks are the result of multiple abiotic and biotic mechanisms. However, few studies have addressed how feedbacks vary based on abiotic context or attempted to identify microbiota responsible for feedbacks. We investigated whether plant-soil feedbacks of an ectomycorrhizal tree (Quercus macrocarpa) varied based on soil nutrient status and whether fungal community composition and diversity could explain feedback patterns. Methods: We inoculated Q. macrocarpa seedlings with field-sampled soils taken from five soil origins – including heterospecific and conspecific trees and an old field – which were profiled using fungal DNA metabarcoding. Results: There was a positive home vs. away plant-soil feedback, though feedbacks with individual hosts were not significant regardless of fertilization. Still, hosts harbored distinctive fungal communities that were predictive of plant growth. There was a growth promotive effect of ectomycorrhizal OTU diversity that was weakened with fertilization, suggesting context-dependent relationships between plant growth and a guild of fungal mutualists. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that the host-specific accumulation of functionally important soil microbes is not always sufficient to drive species level plant-soil feedbacks. Our data provide support for a role of ECM fungal diversity in mediating plant growth responses, though it is unclear whether this effect was direct or indirect.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 445-458 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Plant and Soil |
| Volume | 453 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2020 |
Funding
We would like to thank the staff and faculty of the Oberlin College Biology Department for their support at every step of this project. This research would not have been possible without the help and friendship of Olivia Tsang who helped with plant care and countless other tasks. We thank Sarah McCarthy-Neumann for early feedback on the project and thank Noah Fierer and Rytas Vilgalys for their pre-submission review. We thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback. We also thank the Oberlin Biology Department and Dean’s Office for funding to JN and RL for the experimental and greenhouse work as part of the honors thesis of JN. Funding for the fungal amplicon sequencing and the participation of CS was provided by the Genomic System Sciences Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, as part of the Plant Microbe Interfaces Scientific Focus Area ( http://pmi.ornl.gov ). Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DEAC05-00OR22725. We would like to thank the staff and faculty of the Oberlin College Biology Department for their support at every step of this project. This research would not have been possible without the help and friendship of Olivia Tsang who helped with plant care and countless other tasks. We thank Sarah McCarthy-Neumann for early feedback on the project and thank Noah Fierer and Rytas Vilgalys for their pre-submission review. We thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback. We also thank the Oberlin Biology Department and Dean?s Office for funding to JN and RL for the experimental and greenhouse work as part of the honors thesis of JN. Funding for the fungal amplicon sequencing and the participation of CS was provided by the Genomic System Sciences Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, as part of the Plant Microbe Interfaces Scientific Focus Area (http://pmi.ornl.gov ). Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DEAC05-00OR22725.
Keywords
- Ectomycorrhizal
- Fungal ecology
- Plant-soil feedback
- Quercus macrocarpa
- Soil biology