Effects of Drought-Tuned Plants on Soil Microbial Communities
Abstract
The interactions between plants and soil-microbes have been shown to influence plant productivity, plant-diversity, and community composition within grasslands. Moreover, these interactions could be mediated by environmental conditions such as changes in drought frequency. We studied the effects of drought-tuned plants on soil microbial communities under drought by conducting a controlled greenhouse experiment on three California grass species from a long term (13 year) water manipulation field experiment. Seeds were collected from control and drought plots (plant source), and grown in pots under two different watering treatments: high (watered every other day) and low (watered only when plants exhibit stress) for 8 weeks. All replicates were inoculated with the same live field soil. The microbial community structure for each treatment was then quantified. We hypothesized the response of microbes to subsequent drought will depend on the legacy effects of previous long-term drought on plants. For Amsinckia menziesii , there were no significant main effects of plant source, or interactions between plant source and watering treatment, on total biomass or root to shoot ratios. For Bromus diandrus , there were significant main effects of plant source on total biomass, root to shoot ratios, and root biomass. For Bromus madritensis , there were significant interaction effects between plant source and watering treatment on total biomass and root biomass. Results from this study suggest that the response of native and invasive plants subjected to drought stress may operate via legacy effects of previous extreme weather events on plants. Our results contribute to a mechanistic understanding of feedbacks that underlie plant-soil microbe interactions, improving predictions of plant community responses to environmental changes.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.B41I2430V
- Keywords:
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- 0463 Microbe/mineral interactions;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0465 Microbiology: ecology;
- physiology and genomics;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0470 Nutrients and nutrient cycling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 1615 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- GLOBAL CHANGE