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

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.     

Intraspecific plant–soil feedback and intraspecific overyielding in Arabidopsis thaliana

Understanding the mechanisms of community coexistence and ecosystem functioning may help to counteract the current biodiversity loss and its potentially harmful consequences. In recent years, plant–soil feedback that can, for example, be caused by below‐ground microorganisms has been suggested to play a role in maintaining plant coexistence and to be a potential driver of the positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. Most of the studies addressing these topics have focused on the species level. However, in addition to interspecific interactions, intraspecific interactions might be important for the structure of natural communities. Here, we examine intraspecific coexistence and intraspecific diversity effects using 10 natural accessions of the model species Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. We assessed morphological intraspecific diversity by measuring several above‐ and below‐ground traits. We performed a plant–soil feedback experiment that was based on these trait differences between the accessions in order to determine whether A. thaliana experiences feedback at intraspecific level as a result of trait differences. We also experimentally tested the diversity–productivity relationship at intraspecific level. We found strong differences in above‐ and below‐ground traits between the A. thaliana accessions. Overall, plant–soil feedback occurred at intraspecific level. However, accessions differed in the direction and strength of this feedback: Some accessions grew better on their own soils, some on soils from other accessions. Furthermore, we found positive diversity effects within A. thaliana: Accession mixtures produced a higher total above‐ground biomass than accession monocultures. Differences between accessions in their feedback response could not be explained by morphological traits. Therefore, we suggest that they might have been caused by accession‐specific accumulated soil communities, by root exudates, or by accession‐specific resource use based on genetic differences that are not expressed in morphological traits. Synthesis. Our results provide some of the first evidence for intraspecific plant–soil feedback and intraspecific overyielding. These findings may have wider implications for the maintenance of variation within species and the importance of this variation for ecosystem functioning. Our results highlight the need for an increased focus on intraspecific processes in plant diversity research to fully understand the mechanisms of coexistence and ecosystem functioning.     

The interplay between soil structure,roots, and microbiota as a determinant of plant–soil feedback

Plant–soil feedback (PSF) can influence plant community structure via changes in the soil microbiome. However, how these feedbacks depend on the soil environment remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that disintegrating a naturally aggregated soil may influence the outcome of PSF by affecting microbial communities. Furthermore, we expected plants to differentially interact with soil structure and the microbial communities due to varying root morphology. We carried out a feedback experiment with nine plant species (five forbs and four grasses) where the “training phase” consisted of aggregated versus disintegrated soil. In the feedback phase, a uniform soil was inoculated in a fully factorial design with soil washings from conspecific‐ versus heterospecific‐trained soil that had been either disintegrated or aggregated. This way, the effects of prior soil structure on plant performance in terms of biomass production and allocation were examined. In the training phase, soil structure did not affect plant biomass. But on disintegrated soil, plants with lower specific root length (SRL) allocated more biomass aboveground. PSF in the feedback phase was negative overall. With training on disintegrated soil, conspecific feedback was positively correlated with SRL and significantly differed between grasses and forbs. Plants with higher SRL were likely able to easily explore the disintegrated soil with smaller pores, while plants with lower SRL invested in belowground biomass for soil exploration and seemed to be more susceptible to fungal pathogens. This suggests that plants with low SRL could be more limited by PSF on disintegrated soils of early successional stages. This study is the first to examine the influence of soil structure on PSF. Our results suggest that soil structure determines the outcome of PSF mediated by SRL. We recommend to further explore the effects of soil structure and propose to include root performance when working with PSF.     

Native and non‐native grasses generate common types of plant–soil feedbacks by altering soil nutrients and microbial communities

Soil conditioning occurs when plants alter features of their soil environment. When these alterations affect subsequent plant growth, it is a plant soil feedback. Plant–soil feedbacks are an important and understudied aspect of aboveground–belowground linkages in plant ecology that influence plant coexistence, invasion and restoration. Here, we examine plant–soil feedback dynamics of seven co‐occurring native and non‐native grass species to address the questions of how plants modify their soil environment, do those modifications inhibit or favor their own species relative to other species, and do non‐natives exhibit different plant–soil feedback dynamics than natives. We used a two‐phase design, wherein a first generation of plants was grown to induce species‐specific changes in the soil and a second generation of plants was used as a bioassay to determine the effects of those changes. We also used path‐analysis to examine the potential chain of effects of the first generation on soil nutrients and soil microbial composition and on bioassay plant performance. Our findings show species‐specific (rather than consistent within groups of natives and non‐natives) soil conditioning effects on both soil nutrients and the soil microbial community by plants. Additionally, native species produced plant–soil feedback types that benefit other species more than themselves and non‐native invasive species tended to produce plant–soil feedback types that benefit themselves more than other species. These results, coupled with previous field observations, support hypotheses that plant–soil feedbacks may be a mechanism by which some non‐native species increase their invasive potential and plant–soil feedbacks may influence the vulnerability of a site to invasion.     

Structure and ecological function of the soil microbiome affecting plant–soil feedbacks in the presence of a soil-borne pathogen

Interactions between plants and soil microbes are important for plant growth and resistance. Through plant–soil-feedbacks, growth of a plant is influenced by the previous plant that was growing in the same soil. We performed a plant–soil feedback study with 37 grass, forb and legume species, to condition the soil and then tested the effects of plant-induced changes in soil microbiomes on the growth of the commercially important cut-flower Chrysanthemum in presence and absence of a pathogen. We analysed the fungal and bacterial communities in these soils using next-generation sequencing and examined their relationship with plant growth in inoculated soils with or without the root pathogen, Pythium ultimum. We show that a large part of the soil microbiome is plant species-specific while a smaller part is conserved at the plant family level. We further identified clusters of plant species creating plant growth promoting microbiomes that suppress concomitantly plant pathogens. Especially soil inocula with higher relative abundances of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi caused positive effects on the Chrysanthemum growth when exposed to the pathogen. We conclude that plants differ greatly in how they influence the soil microbiome and that plant growth and protection against pathogens is associated with a complex soil microbial community.     

Intraspecific chemical diversity among neighbouring plants correlates positively with plant size and herbivore load but negatively with herbivore damage

Intraspecific plant diversity can modify the properties of associated arthropod communities and plant fitness. However, it is not well understood which plant traits determine these ecological effects. We explored the effect of intraspecific chemical diversity among neighbouring plants on the associated invertebrate community and plant traits. In a common garden experiment, intraspecific diversity among neighbouring plants was manipulated using three plant populations of wild cabbage that differ in foliar glucosinolates. Plants were larger, harboured more herbivores, but were less damaged when plant diversity was increased. Glucosinolate concentration differentially correlated with generalist and specialist herbivore abundance. Glucosinolate composition correlated with plant damage, while in polycultures, variation in glucosinolate concentrations among neighbouring plants correlated positively with herbivore diversity and negatively with plant damage levels. The results suggest that intraspecific variation in secondary chemistry among neighbouring plants is important in determining the structure of the associated insect community and positively affects plant performance.     

Effects of plant-soil feedback on tree seedling growth under arid conditions

Aims Plants are able to influence their growing environment by changing biotic and abiotic soil conditions. These soil conditions in turn can influence plant growth conditions, which is called plant–soil feedback. Plant–soil feedback is known to be operative in a wide variety of ecosystems ranging from temperate grasslands to tropical rain forests. However, little is known about how it operates in arid environments. We examined the role of plant–soil feedbacks on tree seedling growth in relation to water availability as occurring in arid ecosystems along the west coast of South America.Methods In a two-phased greenhouse experiment, we compared plant–soil feedback effects under three water levels (no water, 10% gravimetric moisture and 15% gravimetric moisture). We used sterilized soil inoculated with soil collected from northwest Peru (Prosopis pallida forests) and from two sites in north-central Chile (Prosopis chilensis forest and scrublands without P. chilensis).Important findings Plant–soil feedbacks differed between plant species and soil origins, but water availability did not influence the feedback effects. Plant–soil feedbacks differed in direction and strength in the three soil origins studied. Plant–soil feedbacks of plants grown in Peruvian forest soil were negative for leaf biomass and positive for root length. In contrast, feedbacks were neutral for plants growing in Chilean scrubland soil and positive for leaf biomass for those growing in Chilean forest soil. Our results show that under arid conditions, effects of plant–soil feedback depend upon context. Moreover, the results suggest that plant–soil feedback can influence trade-offs between root growth and leaf biomass investment and as such that feedback interactions between plants and soil biota can make plants either more tolerant or vulnerable to droughts. Based on dissecting plant–soil feedbacks into aboveground and belowground tissue responses, we conclude that plant–soil feedback can enhance plant colonization in some arid ecosystems by promoting root growth.     

Commonness and rarity of alien and native plant species – the relative roles of intraspecific competition and plant–soil feedback

The success of invasive alien and common native species may be explained by the same underlying mechanisms. Differences in intraspecific competition as well as differences in plant–soil feedback have been put forward as potential determinants of plant success. We teased apart the relative roles of competition and plant–soil feedback in a greenhouse experiment with 30 common and rare alien and native species from nine plant families. We tested whether plant biomass decreased less for common than rare species, regardless of origin, when grown at higher relative frequencies (1, 3 or 6 out of 9 plants per pot) in a community and in soil previously conditioned by the same species at different frequencies (0, 1, 3 or 6 out of 9 plants per pot) in an orthogonal design for these two factors. Plant survival decreased slightly, but non‐significantly, for all species when grown in soil previously occupied by conspecifics. Among surviving plants, we found a decrease in biomass with increasing intraspecific competition across all species (regardless of origin or commonness), and alien species were more negatively affected by previous high plant frequency than native species, but only marginally significantly so. Our findings suggest that, while intraspecific competition limits individual biomass in a density‐dependent manner, these effects do not depend on species origin or commonness. Notably, alien species but not natives showed a decrease in performance when grown in soil pre‐conditioned with a higher frequency of conspecifics. In conclusion, soil‐borne pathogen accumulation might be weak in its effects on plant performance compared to intraspecific competition, with neither being clearly linked to species commonness.     

Nutrient addition affects AM fungal performance and expression of plant/fungal feedback in three serpentine grasses

Plant/soil microbial community feedback can have important consequences for species composition of both the plant and soil microbial communities, however, changes in nutrient availability may alter plant reliance on mycorrhizal fungi. In this research, we tested whether plant/soil community feedback occurs and if increased soil fertility altered the plant/soil community interactions. In two greenhouse experiments we assessed plant and AM fungal performance in response to different soils (and their microbial communities), collected from under three co-occurring plants in serpentine grasslands, and nutrient treatments. The first experiment consisted of two plant species (Andropogon gerardii, Sorghastrum nutans), their soil communities, and three nutrient treatments (control, calcium, N-P-K), while the second experiment used three plant species (first two and Schizachyrium scoparium), their soil communities collected from a different site, and two nutrient treatments (control, N-P-K). Plant/soil community feedback was observed with two of the three species and was significantly affected by nutrient enrichment. Negative Sorghastrum/soil feedback was removed with the addition of N-P-K fertilizer at both sites. Andropogon/soil feedback varied between sites and nutrient treatments, while no differential Schizachyrium growth relative to soil community was observed. Addition of N-P-K fertilizer to the nutrient poor serpentine soils increased plant biomass production and affected plant/soil community interactions. Calcium addition did not affect plant biomass, but was associated with significant increases in fungal colonization regardless of plant species or soil community. Our results indicate that nutrient enrichment affected plant/soil community feedback, which has the potential to affect plant and soil community structure.     

Relative importance of competition and plant–soil feedback,their synergy,context dependency and implications for coexistence

Plants interact simultaneously with each other and with soil biota, yet the relative importance of competition vs. plant–soil feedback (PSF) on plant performance is poorly understood. Using a meta‐analysis of 38 published studies and 150 plant species, we show that effects of interspecific competition (either growing plants with a competitor or singly, or comparing inter‐ vs. intraspecific competition) and PSF (comparing home vs. away soil, live vs. sterile soil, or control vs. fungicide‐treated soil) depended on treatments but were predominantly negative, broadly comparable in magnitude, and additive or synergistic. Stronger competitors experienced more negative PSF than weaker competitors when controlling for density (inter‐ to intraspecific competition), suggesting that PSF could prevent competitive dominance and promote coexistence. When competition was measured against plants growing singly, the strength of competition overwhelmed PSF, indicating that the relative importance of PSF may depend not only on neighbour identity but also density. We evaluate how competition and PSFs might interact across resource gradients; PSF will likely strengthen competitive interactions in high resource environments and enhance facilitative interactions in low‐resource environments. Finally, we provide a framework for filling key knowledge gaps and advancing our understanding of how these biotic interactions influence community structure.     

Competition overwhelms the positive plant–soil feedback generated by an invasive plant

Invasive plant species can modify soils in a way that benefits their fitness more than the fitness of native species. However, it is unclear how competition among plant species alters the strength and direction of plant–soil feedbacks. We tested how community context altered plant–soil feedback between the non-native invasive forb Lespedeza cuneata and nine co-occurring native prairie species. In a series of greenhouse experiments, we grew plants individually and in communities with soils that differed in soil origin (invaded or uninvaded by L. cuneata) and in soils that were live vs. sterilized. In the absence of competition, L. cuneata produced over 60% more biomass in invaded than uninvaded soils, while native species performance was unaffected. The absence of a soil origin effect in sterile soil suggests that the positive plant–soil feedback was caused by differences in the soil biota. However, in the presence of competition, the positive effect of soil origin on L. cuneata growth disappeared. These results suggest that L. cuneata may benefit from positive plant–soil feedback when establishing populations in disturbed landscapes with few interspecific competitors, but does not support the hypothesis that plant–soil feedbacks influence competitive outcomes between L. cuneata and native plant species. These results highlight the importance of considering whether competition influences the outcome of interactions between plants and soils.     

Genetic variation for sensitivity to a thyme monoterpene in associated plant species

Recent studies have shown that plant allelochemicals can have profound effects on the performance of associated species, such that plants with a history of co-existence with “chemical neighbour” plants perform better in their presence compared to naïve plants. This has cast new light on the complexity of plant–plant interactions and plant communities and has led to debates on whether plant communities are more co-evolved than traditionally thought. In order to determine whether plants may indeed evolve in response to other plants’ allelochemicals it is crucial to determine the presence of genetic variation for performance under the influence of specific allelochemicals and show that natural selection indeed operates on this variation. We studied the effect of the monoterpene carvacrol—a dominant compound in the essential oil of Thymus pulegioides—on three associated plant species originating from sites where thyme is either present or absent. We found the presence of genetic variation in both naïve and experienced populations for performance under the influence of the allelochemical but the response varied among naïve and experienced plant. Plants from experienced populations performed better than naïve plants on carvacrol soil and contained significantly more seed families with an adaptive response to carvacrol than naïve populations. This suggests that the presence of T. pulegioides can act as a selective agent on associated species, by favouring genotypes which perform best in the presence of its allelochemicals. The response to the thyme allelochemical varied from negative to neutral to positive among the species. The different responses within a species suggest that plant–plant interactions can evolve; this has implications for community dynamics and stability.     

Evolutionary ecology of plant-microbe interactions: soil microbial structure alters selection on plant traits

? Below-ground microbial communities influence plant diversity, plant productivity, and plant community composition. Given these strong ecological effects, are interactions with below-ground microbes also important for understanding natural selection on plant traits? ? Here, we manipulated below-ground microbial communities and the soil moisture environment on replicated populations of Brassica rapa to examine how microbial community structure influences selection on plant traits and mediates plant responses to abiotic environmental stress. ? In soils with experimentally simplified microbial communities, plants were smaller, had reduced chlorophyll content, produced fewer flowers, and were less fecund when compared with plant populations grown in association with more complex soil microbial communities. Selection on plant growth and phenological traits also was stronger when plants were grown in simplified, less diverse soil microbial communities, and these effects typically were consistent across soil moisture treatments. ? Our results suggest that microbial community structure affects patterns of natural selection on plant traits. Thus, the below-ground microbial community can influence evolutionary processes, just as recent studies have demonstrated that microbial diversity can influence plant community and ecosystem processes.     

Soil pathogen communities associated with native and non‐native Phragmites australis populations in freshwater wetlands

Soil pathogens are believed to be major contributors to negative plant–soil feedbacks that regulate plant community dynamics and plant invasions. While the theoretical basis for pathogen regulation of plant communities is well established within the plant–soil feedback framework, direct experimental evidence for pathogen community responses to plants has been limited, often relying largely on indirect evidence based on above‐ground plant responses. As a result, specific soil pathogen responses accompanying above‐ground plant community dynamics are largely unknown. Here, we examine the oomycete pathogens in soils conditioned by established populations of native noninvasive and non‐native invasive haplotypes of Phragmites australis (European common reed). Our aim was to assess whether populations of invasive plants harbor unique communities of pathogens that differ from those associated with noninvasive populations and whether the distribution of taxa within these communities may help to explain invasive success. We compared the composition and abundance of pathogenic and saprobic oomycete species over a 2‐year period. Despite a diversity of oomycete taxa detected in soils from both native and non‐native populations, pathogen communities from both invaded and noninvaded soils were dominated by species of Pythium. Pathogen species that contributed the most to the differences observed between invaded and noninvaded soils were distributed between invaded and noninvaded soils. However, the specific taxa in invaded soils responsible for community differences were distinct from those in noninvaded soils that contributed to community differences. Our results indicate that, despite the phylogenetic relatedness of native and non‐native P. australis haplotypes, pathogen communities associated with the dominant non‐native haplotype are distinct from those of the rare native haplotype. Pathogen taxa that dominate either noninvaded or invaded soils suggest different potential mechanisms of invasion facilitation. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that non‐native plant species that dominate landscapes may “cultivate” a different soil pathogen community to their rhizosphere than those of rarer native species.     

Integrating spatial structure and interspecific and intraspecific plant–soil feedback effects and responses into community structure

Plant–soil feedbacks have important effects on plant communities, but most theory has been derived from experiments on intraspecific plant–soil feedbacks. Much less is known about how interspecific plant–soil feedbacks affect coexistence and plant communities, due in part to experimental and analytical challenges. Here, we propose a framework for evaluating plant–soil feedbacks among multiple interacting species that incorporates 1) the average effect each species has on conspecific and heterospecific neighbors via how they modify soil biota, 2) the average response of each species to the soil modifications made by neighboring species, and 3) intraspecific feedback. We refer to this as the ‘effect–response–intraspecific’ (ERI) model. We used individual‐based models to evaluate the relative importance of intraspecific and interspecific soil feedback in determining species abundance ranks in simulated plant communities. To compare the heuristic value of the ERI model to that of an established model in which effects and responses to soil feedback are not explicitly recognized, we evaluated a ‘full‐factorial’ model in which soil feedbacks among five plant species were measured and then explicitly modeled. The ERI model indicated that the response to interspecific plant–soil feedbacks was the key factor for species’ abundance rank without spatial structure. In contrast, interspecific plant–soil feedback had no impact on species abundance with spatial structure, and intraspecific feedback became dominant. Thus, our models predict that the relative importance of intraspecific and interspecific feedbacks changes as a function of the degree of spatial structure in a system. Overall, the ERI model provides a novel and tractable framework for evaluating complex multi‐species plant–soil feedbacks.     

Do invasive plants structure microbial communities to accelerate decomposition in intermountain grasslands?

Invasive plants are often associated with greater productivity and soil nutrient availabilities, but whether invasive plants with dissimilar traits change decomposer communities and decomposition rates in consistent ways is little known. We compared decomposition rates and the fungal and bacterial communities associated with the litter of three problematic invaders in intermountain grasslands; cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) and leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), as well as the native bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata). Shoot and root litter from each plant was placed in cheatgrass, spotted knapweed, and leafy spurge invasions as well as remnant native communities in a fully reciprocal design for 6 months to see whether decomposer communities were species‐specific, and whether litter decomposed fastest when placed in a community composed of its own species (referred to hereafter as home‐field advantage–HFA). Overall, litter from the two invasive forbs, spotted knapweed and leafy spurge, decomposed faster than the native and invasive grasses, regardless of the plant community of incubation. Thus, we found no evidence of HFA. T‐RFLP profiles indicated that both fungal and bacterial communities differed between roots and shoots and among plant species, and that fungal communities also differed among plant community types. Synthesis. These results show that litter from three common invaders to intermountain grasslands decomposes at different rates and cultures microbial communities that are species‐specific, widespread, and persistent through the dramatic shifts in plant communities associated with invasions.     

Spatial heterogeneity of plant–soil feedbacks increases per capita reproductive biomass of species at an establishment disadvantage

Plant–soil feedbacks have been widely implicated as a driver of plant community diversity, and the coexistence prediction generated by a negative plant–soil feedback can be tested using the mutual invasibility criterion: if two populations are able to invade one another, this result is consistent with stable coexistence. We previously showed that two co-occurring Rumex species exhibit negative pairwise plant–soil feedbacks, predicting that plant–soil feedbacks could lead to their coexistence. However, whether plants are able to reproduce when at an establishment disadvantage (“invasibility”), or what drivers in the soil might correlate with this pattern, are unknown. To address these questions, we created experimental plots with heterogeneous and homogeneous soils using field-collected conditioned soils from each of these Rumex species. We then allowed resident plants of each species to establish and added invader seeds of the congener to evaluate invasibility. Rumex congeners were mutually invasible, in that both species were able to establish and reproduce in the other’s resident population. Invaders of both species had twice as much reproduction in heterogeneous compared to homogeneous soils; thus the spatial arrangement of plant–soil feedbacks may influence coexistence. Soil mixing had a non-additive effect on the soil bacterial and fungal communities, soil moisture, and phosphorous availability, suggesting that disturbance could dramatically alter soil legacy effects. Because the spatial arrangement of soil patches has coexistence implications, plant–soil feedback studies should move beyond studies of mean effects of single patch types, to consider how the spatial arrangement of patches in the field influences plant communities.     

Impact of plant functional group, plant species, and sampling time on the composition of nirK-type denitrifier communities in soil

We studied the influence of eight nonleguminous grassland plant species belonging to two functional groups (grasses and forbs) on the composition of soil denitrifier communities in experimental microcosms over two consecutive years. Denitrifier community composition was analyzed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of PCR-amplified nirK gene fragments coding for the copper-containing nitrite reductase. The impact of experimental factors (plant functional group, plant species, sampling time, and interactions between them) on the structure of soil denitrifier communities (i.e., T-RFLP patterns) was analyzed by canonical correspondence analysis. While the functional group of a plant did not affect nirK-type denitrifier communities, plant species identity did influence their composition. This effect changed with sampling time, indicating community changes due to seasonal conditions and a development of the plants in the microcosms. Differences in total soil nitrogen and carbon, soil pH, and root biomass were observed at the end of the experiment. However, statistical analysis revealed that the plants affected the nirK-type denitrifier community composition directly, e.g., through root exudates. Assignment of abundant T-RFs to cloned nirK sequences from the soil and subsequent phylogenetic analysis indicated a dominance of yet-unknown nirK genotypes and of genes related to nirK from denitrifiers of the order Rhizobiales. In conclusion, individual species of nonleguminous plants directly influenced the composition of denitrifier communities in soil, but environmental conditions had additional significant effects.     

Conspecific plant–soil feedback scales with population size in Lobelia siphilitica (Lobeliaceae)

Plant–soil interactions directly affect plant success in terms of establishment, survival, growth and reproduction. Negative plant–soil feedback on such traits may therefore reduce the density and abundance of plants of a given species at a given site. Furthermore, if conspecific feedback varies among population sites, it could help explain geographic variation in plant population size. We tested for among-site variation in conspecific plant–soil feedback in a greenhouse experiment using seeds and soils from 8 natural populations of Lobelia siphilitica hosting 30–330 plants. The first cohort of seeds was grown on soil collected from each native site, while the second cohort was grown on the soil conditioned by the first. Our goal was to distinguish site-specific effects mediated by biotic and/or abiotic soil properties from those inherent in seed sources. Cohort 1 plants grown from seeds produced in small populations performed better in terms of germination, growth, and survival compared to plants produced in large populations. Plant performance decreased substantially between cohorts, indicating strong negative feedback. Most importantly, the strength of negative feedback scaled linearly (i.e., was less negative) with increasing size of the native plant population, particularly for germination and survival, and was better explained by soil- rather than seed-source effects. Even with a small number of sites, our results suggest that the potential for negative plant–soil feedback varies among populations of L. siphilitica, and that small populations were more susceptible to negative feedback. Conspecific plant–soil feedback may contribute to plant population size variation within a species’ native range.     

Temporal dynamics of microbial communities in the rhizosphere of two genetically modified (GM) maize hybrids in tropical agrosystems

The use of genetically modified (GM) plants still raises concerns about their environmental impact. The present study aimed to evaluate the possible effects of GM maize, in comparison to the parental line, on the structure and abundance of microbial communities in the rhizosphere. Moreover, the effect of soil type was addressed. For this purpose, the bacterial and fungal communities associated with the rhizosphere of GM plants were compared by culture-independent methodologies to the near-isogenic parental line. Two different soils and three stages of plant development in two different periods of the year were included. As evidenced by principal components analysis (PCA) of the PCR-DGGE profiles of evaluated community, clear differences occurred in these rhizosphere communities between soils and the periods of the year that maize was cultivated. However, there were no discernible effects of the GM lines as compared to the parental line. For all microbial communities evaluated, soil type and the period of the year that the maize was cultivated were the main factors that influenced their structures. No differences were observed in the abundances of total bacteria between the rhizospheres of GM and parental plant lines.