Julia Jimeno-Alda, Jose Antonio Navarro-Cano, Marta Goberna, Miguel Verdú
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aims
Plant-soil interactions play a pivotal role in governing ecosystem dynamics. Plants directly interact with rhizosphere microorganisms, providing them with labile carbon in exchange for mineral nutrients that are the product of decomposition. Such processes are modulated by ecological interactions between plant species in ways that are not fully understood. We assessed whether rhizosphere respiration rates, as a proxy for decomposition, are influenced by i) heterospecific versus conspecific plant interactions, and whether these effects are positive or negative, and ii) how these effects are linked to the identity and the below- and aboveground functional traits of the interacting plant species.
Methods
We conducted a greenhouse experiment with 300 pairwise hetero- and conspecific combinations of ten Mediterranean herbs and shrubs species, covering a range of functional distances calculated based on 33 traits. In addition, we quantified heterotrophic respiration in the rhizosphere as a proxy of decomposition.
Results
Plant neighbour identity was the main factor explaining changes on respiration rates. Respiration increased along with the functional distance between heterospecific pairs of interacting plants when considering aboveground or nutritional traits. Morphological and belowground traits were not significant predictors of changes on respiration rates.
Conclusions
Interspecific plant-plant interactions lead to faster respiration rates in the rhizosphere as functional distance between neighbours increases. This study provides experimental support that functional trait dissimilarities between heterospecific neighbouring plants promote the rates of organic matter decomposition, showing cascading effects of aboveground interactions on belowground ecosystem processes.
期刊介绍:
Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.