Community‐level plant–soil feedbacks explain landscape distribution of native and non‐native plants

Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) have gained attention for their potential role in explaining plant growth and invasion. While promising, most PSF research has measured plant monoculture growth on different soils in short‐term, greenhouse experiments. Here, five soil types were conditioned by growing one native species, three non‐native species, or a mixed plant community in different plots in a common‐garden experiment. After 4 years, plants were removed and one native and one non‐native plant community were planted into replicate plots of each soil type. After three additional years, the percentage cover of each of the three target species in each community was measured. These data were used to parameterize a plant community growth model. Model predictions were compared to native and non‐native abundance on the landscape. Native community cover was lowest on soil conditioned by the dominant non‐native, Centaurea diffusa, and non‐native community cover was lowest on soil cultivated by the dominant native, Pseudoroegneria spicata. Consistent with plant growth on the landscape, the plant growth model predicted that the positive PSFs observed in the common‐garden experiment would result in two distinct communities on the landscape: a native plant community on native soils and a non‐native plant community on non‐native soils. In contrast, when PSF effects were removed, the model predicted that non‐native plants would dominate all soils, which was not consistent with plant growth on the landscape. Results provide an example where PSF effects were large enough to change the rank‐order abundance of native and non‐native plant communities and to explain plant distributions on the landscape. The positive PSFs that contributed to this effect reflected the ability of the two dominant plant species to suppress each other's growth. Results suggest that plant dominance, at least in this system, reflects the ability of a species to suppress the growth of dominant competitors through soil‐mediated effects.     

Negative plant‐phyllosphere feedbacks in native Asteraceae hosts – a novel extension of the plant‐soil feedback framework

Over the past 25 years, the plant‐soil feedback (PSF) framework has catalyzed our understanding of how belowground microbiota impact plant fitness and species coexistence. Here, we apply a novel extension of this framework to microbiota associated with aboveground tissues, termed ‘plant‐phyllosphere feedback (PPFs)’. In parallel greenhouse experiments, rhizosphere and phyllosphere microbiota of con‐ and heterospecific hosts from four species were independently manipulated. In a third experiment, we tested the combined effects of soil and phyllosphere feedback under field conditions. We found that three of four species experienced weak negative PSF whereas, in contrast, all four species experienced strong negative PPFs. Field‐based feedback estimates were highly negative for all four species, though variable in magnitude. Our results suggest that phyllosphere microbiota, like rhizosphere microbiota, can potentially mediate plant species coexistence via negative feedbacks. Extension of the PSF framework to the phyllosphere is needed to more fully elucidate plant‐microbiota interactions.     

Temporal carry‐over effects in sequential plant–soil feedbacks

Plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) strongly influence plant performance. However, to what extent these PSF effects are persistent in the soil and how they are altered by species that subsequently condition the soil is unclear. Here we test how conspecific and heterospecific soil‐conditioning effects interact across different soil‐conditioning phases. We conducted a fully factorial glasshouse experiment where six plant species conditioned soils in two consecutive phases and measured the performance of Jacobaea vulgaris. The species that conditioned the soil during the second conditioning phase strongly determined the performance of J. vulgaris, but also the order and combination of species that conditioned the soil in the two phases accounted for a large part of the variance. For shoot biomass this interaction was the dominant variance component. We show that soil conditioning legacies carry‐over and interact with the conditioning effects of succeeding plants. In the field, species replacements at the patch level often appear to be unpredictable and we suggest that sequential feedbacks may explain these apparently unpredictable transitions.     

Intraspecific and intergenerational differences in plant–soil feedbacks

Interactions between plant and soil communities are known to play an integral role in shaping ecosystems. Plants influence the composition of soil communities and soil communities in turn influence plant performance. Such a plant–soil feedback may incur selection pressure on plants and the associating soil community. However, the evolutionary consequences of these above–belowground feedback interactions remain largely speculative. Here we assess whether plant–soil feedback effects differ between intraspecific plant populations and between generations within the same plant population. We used two populations of Trifolium pratense and assessed their performance when grown in association with their home versus away soil biota. Both populations were colonized by distinct microbial communities and performed better with their own home soil communities than with the soil community from the other intraspecific population, demonstrating intraspecific positive feedback effects of home soil. In one of the two populations, we found that plant performance and the root associated microbiota community differed between parental and progeny plants when inoculated with their own home soil. Differences in root associated community characteristics could explain more than 80% of the variation in performance among the progeny and parental plants. Our results highlight that intraspecific differences in both plant and associated soil communities shape plant–soil feedback effects, and consequently indicate that plant–soil feedback can influence the direction of selection between intraspecific plant populations.     

Positive climate feedbacks of soil microbial communities in a semi‐arid grassland

Soil microbial communities may be able to rapidly respond to changing environments in ways that change community structure and functioning, which could affect climate–carbon feedbacks. However, detecting microbial feedbacks to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) or warming is hampered by concurrent changes in substrate availability and plant responses. Whether microbial communities can persistently feed back to climate change is still unknown. We overcame this problem by collecting microbial inocula at subfreezing conditions under eCO₂ and warming treatments in a semi‐arid grassland field experiment. The inoculant was incubated in a sterilised soil medium at constant conditions for 30 days. Microbes from eCO₂ exhibited an increased ability to decompose soil organic matter (SOM) compared with those from ambient CO₂ plots, and microbes from warmed plots exhibited increased thermal sensitivity for respiration. Microbes from the combined eCO₂ and warming plots had consistently enhanced microbial decomposition activity and thermal sensitivity. These persistent positive feedbacks of soil microbial communities to eCO₂ and warming may therefore stimulate soil C loss.     

Microbial phylotype composition and diversity predicts plant productivity and plant–soil feedbacks

The relationship between ecological variation and microbial genetic composition is critical to understanding microbial influence on community and ecosystem function. In glasshouse trials using nine native legume species and 40 rhizobial strains, we find that bacterial rRNA phylotype accounts for 68% of amoung isolate variability in symbiotic effectiveness and 79% of host specificity in growth response. We also find that rhizobial phylotype diversity and composition of soils collected from a geographical breadth of sites explains the growth responses of two acacia species. Positive soil microbial feedback between the two acacia hosts was largely driven by changes in diversity of rhizobia. Greater rhizobial diversity accumulated in association with the less responsive host species, Acacia salicina, and negatively affected the growth of the more responsive Acacia stenophylla. Together, this work demonstrates correspondence of phylotype with microbial function, and demonstrates that the dynamics of rhizobia on host species can feed back on plant population performance.     

Plant‐driven changes in soil microbial communities influence seed germination through negative feedbacks

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Landscape‐scale determinants of non‐native fish communities

Aim Predicting and preventing invasions depends on knowledge of the factors that make ecosystems susceptible to invasion. Current studies generally rely on non‐native species richness (NNSR) as the sole measure of ecosystem invasibility; however, species identity is a critical consideration, given that different ecosystems may have environmental characteristics suitable to different species. Our aim was to examine whether non‐native freshwater fish community composition was related to ecosystem characteristics at the landscape scale. Location United States. Methods We described spatial patterns in non‐native freshwater fish communities among watersheds in the Mid‐Atlantic region of the United States based on records of establishment in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. We described general relationships between non‐native species and ecosystem characteristics using canonical correspondence analysis. We clustered watersheds by non‐native fish community and described differences among clusters using indicator species analysis. We then assessed whether non‐native communities could be predicted from ecosystem characteristics using random forest analysis and predicted non‐native communities for uninvaded watersheds. We estimated which ecosystem characteristics were most important for predicting non‐native communities using conditional inference trees. Results We identified four non‐native fish communities, each with distinct indicator species. Non‐native communities were predicted based on ecosystem characteristics with an accuracy of 80.6%, with temperature as the most important variable. Relatively uninvaded watersheds were predicted to be invasible by the most diverse non‐native community. Main conclusions Non‐native species identity is an important consideration when assessing ecosystem invasibility. NNSR alone is an insufficient measure of invasibility because ecosystems with equal NNSR may not be equally invasible by the same species. Our findings can help improve predictions of future invasions and focus management and policy decisions on particular species in highly invasible ecosystems.     

Predators in the plant–soil feedback loop: aboveground plant‐associated predators may alter the outcome of plant–soil interactions

Plant–soil feedback (PSF) can structure plant communities, promoting coexistence (negative PSF) or monodominance (positive PSF). At higher trophic levels, predators can alter plant community structure by re‐allocating resources within habitats. When predator and plant species are spatially associated, predators may alter the outcome of PSF. Here, I explore the influence of plant‐associated predators on PSF using a generalised cellular automaton model that tracks nutrients, plants, herbivores and predators. I explore key contingencies in plant–predator associations such as whether predators associate with live vs. senesced vegetation. Results indicate that plant‐associated predators shift PSF to favour the host plant when predators colonise live vegetation, but the outcome of PSF will depend upon plant dispersal distance when predators colonise dead vegetation. I apply the model to two spider‐associated invasive plants, finding that spider predators should shift PSF dynamics in a way that inhibits invasion by one forest invader, but exacerbates invasion by another.     

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

Given the important role that soil microbes play in structuring plant communities and mediating ecosystem functions, there is growing interest in harnessing microbial communities to restore degraded ecosystems. Dune restorations, in particular, may benefit from native soil amendments because microbial diversity and abundance are very low in unvegetated areas. In an outdoor mesocosm experiment simulating Texas Gulf Coast dune restorations, we tested how native soil microbial amendments and restored diversity of foundational grasses influenced three key restoration responses: plant performance, plant diversity (including the colonization of native forbs), and soil stability. We found that native microbial amendments increased plant diversity and have the potential to increase soil stability, but this came at the cost of decreased plant biomass. Our results suggest that soil enemies in the native microbial amendments increased plant diversity by decreasing the performance of the dominant grass species and that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the native microbial amendments increased the density of fungal hyphae in the soil, which can increase soil stability. Depending on the goals of the restoration, native soil microbial amendments may be a simple and inexpensive method to provide restoration benefits.     

Co‐option of microbial associates by insects and their impact on plant–folivore interactions

Plants possess a suite of traits that make them challenging to consume by insect herbivores. Plant tissues are recalcitrant, have low levels of protein, and may be well defended by chemicals. Insects use diverse strategies for overcoming these barriers, including co‐opting metabolic activities from microbial associates. In this review, we discuss the co‐option of bacteria and fungi in the herbivore gut. We particularly focus upon chewing, folivorous insects (Coleoptera and Lepidoptera) and discuss the impacts of microbial co‐option on herbivore performance and plant responses. We suggest that there are two components to microbial co‐option: fixed and plastic relationships. Fixed relationships are involved in integral dietary functions and can be performed by microbial enzymes co‐opted into the genome or by stably transferred associates. In contrast, the majority of gut symbionts appear to be looser and perform more facultative, context‐dependent functions. This more plastic, variable co‐option of bacteria likely produces a greater number of insect phenotypes, which interact differently with plant hosts. By altering plant detection of herbivory or mediating insect interactions with plant defensive compounds, microbes can effectively improve herbivore performance in real time within and between generations.     

Distinct seasonal migration patterns of Japanese native and non‐native genotypes of common carp estimated by environmental DNA

Understanding behavioral differences between intraspecific genotypes of aquatic animals is challenging because we cannot directly observe the animals underwater or visually distinguish morphologically similar counterparts. Here, we tested a new monitoring tool that uses environmental DNA (eDNA), an assemblage of DNA in environmental water, to specifically detect Japanese native and introduced non‐native genotypes of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Lake Biwa, Japan, and estimated differences between the two genotypes in the use of inland habitats. We monitored the ratios of native and non‐native single nucleotide polymorphism alleles of a mitochondrial locus of common carp in a lagoon connected to Lake Biwa for 3 years using eDNA. We observed seasonal dynamics in the allele frequency showing that the native genotype frequency peaked every spring, suggesting that native individuals migrated to the lagoon for spawning and then returned to the main lake, whereas non‐native individuals tended to stay in the lagoon. The estimated migration patterns corresponded with the estimates of a previous study, which were based on commercial fish catch data. Our findings suggest that eDNA‐based monitoring can be useful tool for addressing intraspecific behavioral differences underwater.     

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.     

Predicting the non‐linear collapse of plant–frugivore networks due to habitat loss

Habitat loss can trigger cascades of secondary extinctions, changing the organization of interacting assemblages. Until recently, most extinction models in interaction systems had limited ecological realism. Here, we estimate a realistic sequence of species extinctions resulting from habitat loss to assess its impacts on the structure of frugivory networks from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We show that realistic and random extinctions led to similar patterns. We also identified a threshold in the response of network structure to habitat loss. When forest cover was reduced to less than 40% of the landscape, network organization changed dramatically. Hence, the number of species being lost, rather than the order of species extinctions, is the key determinant of its impacts on the organization of frugivory networks. We highlight the need to conserve around 40% of forest cover to keep the basic organization of frugivory networks, a threshold already reached at the best‐preserved Brazilian Atlantic Forest bioregion.     

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.     

不同熏蒸剂对草莓连作土壤养分和微生物群落的影响

【背景】草莓连年栽培导致土传病害问题突出,施用熏蒸剂进行土壤消毒因效果显著得以广泛应用。但不同熏蒸剂对土壤病原微生物的影响存在较大差异,同时对非靶标微生物和土壤理化性质也会有不同程度的影响。【目的】明确不同熏蒸剂对草莓连作土壤养分和土壤细菌、真菌群落结构的影响,为合理选择熏蒸剂提供科学依据。【方法】以连作土壤为材料设置5个处理：未熏蒸、石灰氮熏蒸、石灰熏蒸、棉隆熏蒸、威百亩熏蒸,测定熏蒸处理后土壤养分含量;采用PacBio测序平台分析土壤微生物多样性的变化。【结果】石灰氮和威百亩处理均增加了碱解氮含量,降低了有机质、有效磷和速效钾含量;棉隆处理土壤中各养分含量均增加;石灰处理除有机质含量增加外,碱解氮、有效磷和速效钾含量均降低;棉隆、石灰和威百亩处理显著降低pH值。5个处理草莓连作土壤样本中获得了1 164个细菌OTU和444个真菌OTU。细菌多样性和丰富度分析发现,4种熏蒸剂处理均增加了土壤细菌群落的丰富度,石灰氮、石灰和威百亩处理增加了土壤细菌菌落的多样性。4种熏蒸剂处理真菌菌落的丰富度低于对照;石灰、棉隆处理真菌菌落的多样性高于对照和石灰氮、威百亩处理低于对照,但差异不显著。在物种组成分析中,从门水平看,变形菌门(Proteobacteria)和芽单胞菌门(Gemmatimonadetes)为优势细菌门;与对照相比,石灰氮、石灰、棉隆处理变形菌门相对丰度增高,威百亩处理相对丰度降低。4种处理均降低了芽单胞菌门的相对丰度。其他门类中,4种处理均增加了浮霉菌门(Planctomycetota)、疣微菌门(Verrucomicrobia)的相对丰度。优势细菌群落分析表明土壤熏蒸减少了芽单胞菌属(Gemmatimonas)、藤黄单胞菌属(Luteimonas)、中慢生根瘤菌属(Mesorhizobium)等细菌的相对丰度,增加了噬几丁质菌属(Chitinophaga)、苍白杆菌属(Ochrobactrum)的相对丰度。子囊菌门(Ascomycota)为优势真菌,石灰氮、石灰、棉隆、威百亩4种处理均增加了子囊菌门的相对丰度。另外还检测到引起草莓根部土传病害的枝孢属(Cladosporium)和镰刀菌属(Fusarium)病菌,熏蒸处理后均降低了枝孢属和镰刀菌属的相对丰度,其中枝孢属在石灰氮、石灰、棉隆、威百亩处理中分别降低了1.35%、1.11%、0.90%和1.31%,镰刀菌属分别降低了0.71%、0.85%、0.19%和0.65%,但差异不显著。4种土壤熏蒸剂均增加了有益真菌毛壳菌属(Chaetomium)的相对丰度。【结论】采用熏蒸剂处理连作土壤改变了微生物群落构成,减少或灭杀土壤中的大部分致病菌属,起到有效防治草莓土传病害的作用,但不能灭杀所有病菌,而且对有益菌和土壤理化性质有不同程度的影响,因此处理后补充有益微生物非常关键。根据对病原菌的灭杀效果,石灰氮、威百亩处理的效果优于其他处理,可作为轮换施用的熏蒸剂,本试验条件下,棉隆是一种弱的处理剂。     

The role of environmental and spatial processes in structuring native and non‐native fish communities across thousands of lakes

Quantifying the role of spatial patterns is an important goal in ecology to further understand patterns of community composition. We quantified the relative role of environmental conditions and regional spatial patterns that could be produced by environmental filtering and dispersal limitation on fish community composition for thousands of lakes. A database was assembled on fish community composition, lake morphology, water quality, climatic conditions, and hydrological connectivity for 9885 lakes in Ontario, Canada. We utilized a variation partitioning approach in conjunction with Moran's Eigenvector Maps (MEM) and Asymmetric Eigenvector Maps (AEM) to model spatial patterns that could be produced by human‐mediated and natural modes of dispersal. Across 9885 lakes and 100 fish species, environmental factors and spatial structure explained approximately 19% of the variation in fish community composition. Examining the proportional role of spatial structure and environmental conditions revealed that as much as 90% of the explained variation in native species assemblage composition is governed by environmental conditions. Conversely on average, 67% of the explained variation in non‐native assemblage composition can be related to human‐mediated dispersal. This study highlights the importance of including spatial structure and environmental conditions when explaining patterns of community composition to better discriminate between the ecological processes that underlie biogeographical patterns of communities composed of native and non‐native fish species.