Pervasive and strong effects of plants on soil chemistry: a meta-analysis of individual plant ‘Zinke’ effects

Abstract

Plant species leave a chemical signature in the soils below them, generating fine-scale spatial variation that drives ecological processes. Since the publication of a seminal paper on plant-mediated soil heterogeneity by Paul Zinke in 1962, a robust literature has developed examining effects of individual plants on their local environments (individual plant effects). Here, we synthesize this work using meta-analysis to show that plant effects are strong and pervasive across ecosystems on six continents. Overall, soil properties beneath individual plants differ from those of neighbours by an average of 41%. Although the magnitudes of individual plant effects exhibit weak relationships with climate and latitude, they are significantly stronger in deserts and tundra than forests, and weaker in intensively managed ecosystems. The ubiquitous effects of plant individuals and species on local soil properties imply that individual plant effects have a role in plant -soil feedbacks, linking individual plants with biogeochemical processes at the ecosystem scale.

Soil abiotic variables are more important than Salicaceae phylogeny or habitat specialization in determining soil microbial community structure

“…), however, our work shows that removing environmental influences may exaggerate the importance of plant host influence on soil microbial community composition. For example, plants may cultivate their own host‐specific pathogens (Packer & Clay, ), but they also modify local soil environments through litter or root exudates (Waring et al., ) in ways that could also suppress the activity of pathogens. Similarly, even though plants may prefer particular mutualists (Kiers et al.…”

“…Other studies found that fungal saprotroph community composition was linked to dominant forest trees (Urbanova et al., ) and plant traits such as leaf nitrogen content (Nguyen, Williams, et al., ). Direct effects of plant identity, such as root exudates (Haichar et al., ) and indirect effects of plant identity on soil environment (Zinke effects), could explain the plant identity effects for saprotrophs and other nonsymbiotic groups, as well as for symbiotrophs (Prescott & Grayston, ; Waring et al., ). Host specificity may also play an indirect role via interaction between host‐specific and non‐host‐specific soil microbes (Bakker, Schlatter, Otto‐Hanson, & Kinkel, ).…”

Storage of C, N, and P affected by afforestation with Salix cupularis in an alpine semiarid desert ecosystem

“…The formation of “fertile island” by tree/shrub might alter the nutrients, microbial community, and structure of the soil in vertical and horizontal directions (Waring et al, ; Yao et al, ). Our study showed that SOC, TN, TP, BD, SWC, and pH presented a strong spatial heterogeneity.…”

Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization has little consequence for plant heavy metal uptake in contaminated field soils

“…McCormick and Gibble 2014), and the effects of plants on the trace element chemistry of the soils in which they grow (e.g. Waring et al 2015). Either could be a mechanism for locally positive intraspecific plant-soil feedback that could help maintain high environmental heterogeneity, with potential but complex implications for biodiversity (van der Putten et al 2013; Yang et al 2015).…”