Single introductions of soil biota and plants generate long‐term legacies in soil and plant community assembly

Abstract

Recent demonstrations of the role of plant–soil biota interactions have challenged the conventional view that vegetation changes are mainly driven by changing abiotic conditions. However, while this concept has been validated under natural conditions, our understanding of the long‐term consequences of plant–soil interactions for above‐belowground community assembly is restricted to mathematical and conceptual model projections. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that one‐time additions of soil biota and plant seeds alter soil‐borne nematode and plant community composition in semi‐natural grassland for 20 years. Over time, aboveground and belowground community composition became increasingly correlated, suggesting an increasing connectedness of soil biota and plants. We conclude that the initial composition of not only plant communities, but also soil communities has a long‐lasting impact on the trajectory of community assembly.

Initial soil community drives heathland fungal community trajectory over multiple years through altered plant–soil interactions

“…First, there was a persistent difference in fungal community composition between biotic addition treatments and the control even though biotic additions did not alter the initial soil abiotic conditions and fungi could easily colonize the noninoculated plots from the adjacent inoculated plots. Similar findings were reported by Wubs et al , (), where single introductions of soil biota and plant seeds led to long‐term legacies on the trajectory of community assembly. Second, the DOC analysis indicates consistent biotic interactions among fungal taxa under sod additions and, to a lesser extent, hay additions, but this signal was absent in control communities.…”

“…For instance, they have been shown to be major drivers of plant community composition patterns in restored tallgrass prairies (Bauer et al, 2015) and pristine tropical forests (Mangan et al, 2010). Moreover, manipulation through soil inoculation promoted the development of heathland and grassland systems, possibly through positive feedbacks among plants and their associated soil biota (Wubs et al, 2016(Wubs et al, , 2019van der Bij et al, 2018). Studies investigating plant-soil interactions have particularly emphasized the importance of mycorrhizal fungi as mediators between below and aboveground communities (Bauer et al, 2015), showing, for example, that the presence and identity of mycorrhizal fungi determined whether late or early successional plant species came to dominate in a prairie restoration experiment (Koziol & Bever, 2017).…”

Native soil microbial amendments generate trade‐offs in plant productivity, diversity, and soil stability in coastal dune restorations

“…While soil amendments may have mixed effects on plant performance, they tend to enhance plant community diversity. Additions of soil fauna increased plant diversity in restored grasslands (De Deyn et al ), additions of native AM fungi increased plant diversity in restored prairies (Koziol & Bever , ), and additions of whole soil significantly changed plant community composition in a restored grassland (Wubs et al , ; but see Kardol et al ). Soil communities may help promote diversity by keeping abundant species in check.…”

A checklist for choosing between R packages in ecology and evolution

“…Furthermore, publications describing the use of packages in ecology and evolution strongly suggest that the package will be functional and potentially appropriate to your own adventure, that is, see the R package codyn on CRAN for community dynamic measures with documentation and a peer‐reviewed publication to describe it in depth (Hallett et al, ). There are many other examples also published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution (Duthie et al, ; Harmer & Thomas, ; Remelgado, Wegmann, & Safi, ; Wubs et al, ). Another important attribute of packages is the frequency of use.…”

“…Methods in Ecology and Evolution(Duthie et al, 2018;Harmer & Thomas, 2019;Remelgado, Wegmann, & Safi, 2019;Wubs et al, 2019). Another important attribute of packages is the frequency of use.…”