Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota

Abstract

Recent studies assessing the role of biological diversity for ecosystem functioning indicate that the diversity of functional traits and the evolutionary history of species in a community, not the number of taxonomic units, ultimately drives the biodiversity-ecosystem-function relationship. Here, we simultaneously assessed the importance of plant functional trait and phylogenetic diversity as predictors of major trophic groups of soil biota (abundance and diversity), six years from the onset of a grassland biodiversity experiment. Plant functional and phylogenetic diversity were generally better predictors of soil biota than the traditionally used species or functional group richness. Functional diversity was a reliable predictor for most biota, with the exception of soil microorganisms, which were better predicted by phylogenetic diversity. These results provide empirical support for the idea that the diversity of plant functional traits and the diversity of evolutionary lineages in a community are important for maintaining higher abundances and diversity of soil communities. Abstract. Recent studies assessing the role of biological diversity for ecosystem functioning indicate that the diversity of functional traits and the evolutionary history of species in a community, not the number of taxonomic units, ultimately drives the biodiversityecosystem-function relationship. Here, we simultaneously assessed the importance of plant functional trait and phylogenetic diversity as predictors of major trophic groups of soil biota (abundance and diversity), six years from the onset of a grassland biodiversity experiment. Plant functional and phylogenetic diversity were generally better predictors of soil biota than the traditionally used species or functional group richness. Functional diversity was a reliable predictor for most biota, with the exception of soil microorganisms, which were better predicted by phylogenetic diversity. These results provide empirical support for the idea that the diversity of plant functional traits and the diversity of evolutionary lineages in a community are important for maintaining higher abundances and diversity of soil communities.

Cover crops to increase soil microbial diversity and mitigate decline in perennial agriculture. A review

“…While the overall species richness of cover crop vegetation may be the ultimate driver of soil microbial diversity and, thus, soil feedback (Eisenhauer et al 2011), plant functional group diversity may also be an important consideration (Milcu et al 2013). Common cover crop mixtures may consist of a mix of any of the four main (non-woody) functional groups (namely C 3 and C 4 grasses, legumes, and non-leguminous forbs), and plants with different functional traits often grow well together due to temporal and spatial niche differentiation .…”

Changes in soil microbial substrate utilization in response to altered litter diversity and precipitation in a Mediterranean shrubland

“…Soil communities have been shown to vary as a function of the litter resources deposited at the soil surface (e.g., Ayres et al 2009;Carrillo et al 2011;Milcu et al 2013), and thus, they may be modified with alterations in the species composition of the litter layer. There is compelling evidence that litter functional identity and diversity are important drivers of litter decomposition (Cornwell et al 2008;Handa et al 2014), with species-rich plant communities supporting more complementary microbial communities (Eisenhauer et al 2010).…”

“…As a further consequence of more complementary niche exploitation, microbial biomass may increase in species-rich litter mixtures offering higher resource diversity (Chapman and Newman 2009). Indeed, results from plant diversity experiments documented higher soil microbial biomass and activity with increasing plant species and functional diversity (Eisenhauer et al 2010;Milcu et al 2013;Vogel et al 2013;Steinauer et al 2015).…”

“…For example, the indirect drought effects on litter decomposition via changes in litter quality may be substantial even without a change in plant diversity and should be considered along with direct soil moisture-driven effects for accurate predictions of litter decomposition in Mediterranean ecosystems under climate change (García-Palacios et al 2016). Several studies evaluated the response of soil microbial properties to plant diversity (e.g., Eisenhauer et al 2010;Milcu et al 2013) or to climate change factors (in the Mediterranean context, see Bérard et al, 2012;Pailler et al 2014;Yuste et al 2014). However, very few studies addressed the combined effects of plant diversity and climate change factors (Niklaus et al 2007;Bloor and Bardgett 2012;Eisenhauer et al 2013;Vogel et al 2013).…”

Direct and indirect effects of invasion by the alien tree Ailanthus altissima on riparian plant communities and ecosystem multifunctionality

“…Numerous important ecological traits, such as co-evolved relationships with N-fixing bacteria or other soil organisms, are preserved through evolutionary times (Flynn et al 2011;Milcu et al 2013). Therefore, phylogenetic diversity (hereafter phylodiversity) is thought to be a good surrogate for the diversity of functional forms present in a given community (Prinzing et al 2001;Webb et al 2002).…”