The strength of negative plant–soil feedback increases from the intraspecific to the interspecific and the functional group level

Abstract

One of the processes that may play a key role in plant species coexistence and ecosystem functioning is plant–soil feedback, the effect of plants on associated soil communities and the resulting feedback on plant performance. Plant–soil feedback at the interspecific level (comparing growth on own soil with growth on soil from different species) has been studied extensively, while plant–soil feedback at the intraspecific level (comparing growth on own soil with growth on soil from different accessions within a species) has only recently gained attention. Very few studies have investigated the direction and strength of feedback among different taxonomic levels, and initial results have been inconclusive, discussing phylogeny, and morphology as possible determinants. To test our hypotheses that the strength of negative feedback on plant performance increases with increasing taxonomic level and that this relationship is explained by morphological similarities, we conducted a greenhouse experiment using species assigned to three taxonomic levels (intraspecific, interspecific, and functional group level). We measured certain fitness‐related aboveground traits and used them along literature‐derived traits to determine the influence of morphological similarities on the strength and direction of the feedback. We found that the average strength of negative feedback increased from the intraspecific over the interspecific to the functional group level. However, individual accessions and species differed in the direction and strength of the feedback. None of our results could be explained by morphological dissimilarities or individual traits. Synthesis. Our results indicate that negative plant–soil feedback is stronger if the involved plants belong to more distantly related species. We conclude that the taxonomic level is an important factor in the maintenance of plant coexistence with plant–soil feedback as a potential stabilizing mechanism and should be addressed explicitly in coexistence research, while the traits considered here seem to play a minor role.

Root Exudation of Primary Metabolites: Mechanisms and Their Roles in Plant Responses to Environmental Stimuli

“…Therefore, the ultimate response of plants to their neighbors depends on the complex interplay of mechanisms that integrate numerous environmental cues in which root exudates are undoubtedly involved. Recent studies have shown how plant-soil feedbacks, mostly determined by the relationship between the plant and the soil microbial community, can determine plant performance and community structure (Kardol et al., 2007; Reinhart, 2012; Ma et al., 2017; Van Nuland et al., 2017; Bukowski et al., 2018; Eppinga et al., 2018; Hu et al., 2018; Wubs and Bezemer, 2018). Indeed, in recent experiments, it was shown that effects on plant performance by soil microbiota through plant-soil feedbacks were dependent on the plant nutrient strategy and soil nutrient conditions (Png et al., 2019; Teste et al., 2017).…”

The Effect of Prolonged Drought Legacies on Plant-Soil Feedbacks

“…Plant-soil feedback experimental design We followed a common methodology for plant-soil feedback experiments (Fig. 1), consisting of two phases: a conditioning phase (phase 1) and a feedback phase (phase 2) (Bever 2003;Bukowski et al 2018;Kulmatiski and Kadrol 2008). Plants were grown under well-watered conditions for all treatments throughout both the conditioning and feedback phases to speci cally assess the legacy effects of past rainfall regime (i.e.…”

Intraspecific variation in indirect plant–soil feedbacks influences a wetland plant invasion

“…, Bukowski et al. ). Biological invasions are often characterized by multiple introduction events, meaning multiple genetic lineages may be present in the introduced range (Durka et al.…”

“…Finally, intraspecific genetic variation is an important part of ecological and evolutionary processes (see Bolnick et al 2011 for a review). It is known to alter the effects of nutrients (Saltonstall and Stevenson 2007) and competitors (Howard et al 2008, Gomola et al 2017) on plant fitness, and to influence community composition of soil biota (Schweitzer et al 2008, Nelson and Karp 2013, Lamit et al 2016, Bowen et al 2017), yet experiments examining intraspecific variation in PSFs remain rare (but see Bukowski and Petermann 2014, Maron et al 2015, Wagg et al 2015, Bukowski et al 2018. Biological invasions are often characterized by multiple introduction events, meaning multiple genetic lineages may be present in the introduced range (Durka et al 2005, Meyerson et al 2012, Gomola et al 2017.…”