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Plant–microbe interactions along a gradient of soil fertility in tropical dry forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2016

Bonnie G. Waring ,
Maria G. Gei ,
Lisa Rosenthal  and
Jennifer S. Powers
Bonnie G. Waring*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Maria G. Gei
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Lisa Rosenthal
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Jennifer S. Powers
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract:

Theoretical models predict that plant interactions with free-living soil microbes, pathogens and fungal symbionts are regulated by nutrient availability. Working along a steep natural gradient of soil fertility in a Costa Rican tropical dry forest, we examined how soil nutrients affect plant–microbe interactions using two complementary approaches. First, we measured mycorrhizal colonization of roots and soil P availability in 18 permanent plots spanning the soil fertility gradient. We measured root production, root colonization by mycorrhizal fungi, phosphatase activity and Bray P in each of 144 soil cores. Next, in a full-factorial manipulation of soil type and microbial community origin, tree seedlings of Albizia guachapele and Swietenia macrophylla were grown in sterilized high-, intermediate- and low-fertility soils paired with microbial inoculum from each soil type. Seedling growth, biomass allocation and root colonization by mycorrhizas were quantified after 2 mo. In the field, root colonization by mycorrhizal fungi was unrelated to soil phosphorus across a five-fold gradient of P availability. In the shadehouse, inoculation with soil microbes had either neutral or positive effects on plant growth, suggesting that positive effects of mycorrhizal symbionts outweighed negative effects of soil pathogens. The presence of soil microbes had a greater effect on plant biomass than variation in soil nutrient concentrations (although both effects were modest), and plant responses to mycorrhizal inoculation were not dependent on soil nutrients. Taken together, our results emphasize that soil microbial communities can influence plant growth and morphology independently of soil fertility.

Keywords

arbuscular mycorrhizal fungiecological stoichiometryphosphorussoil microbestropical dry forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , July 2016 , pp. 314 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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