Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Both mutualistic and pathogenic soil microbes are known to play important roles in shaping the fitness of plants, likely affecting plants at different life cycle stages. In order to investigate the differential effects of native soil mutualists and pathogens on plant fitness, we compared survival and reproduction of two annual tallgrass prairie plant species (Chamaecrista fasciculataandCoreopsis tinctoria) in a field study using 3 soil inocula treatments containing different compositions of microbes. The soil inocula types included fresh native whole soil taken from a remnant prairie containing both native mutualists and pathogens, soil enhanced with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi derived from remnant prairies, and uninoculated controls. For both species, plants inoculated with native prairie AM fungi performed much better than those in uninoculated soil for all parts of the life cycle. Plants in the native whole prairie soil were either generally similar to plants in the uninoculated soil or had slightly higher survival or reproduction. Overall, these results suggest that native prairie AM fungi can have important positive effects on the fitness of early successional plants. As inclusion of prairie AM fungi and pathogens decreased plant fitness relative to prairie AM fungi alone, we expect that native pathogens also can have large effects on fitness of these annuals. Our findings support the use of AM fungi to enhance plant establishment in prairie restorations.
Source: Ecology and Evolution
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6341
Institution: University of Kansas
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,200
Awards: RII Track-1: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas, G2481717262, G6010757304, Molecular Analysis of Disease Pathways, Ecological Dynamics of the Plant-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Mutualism: Contribution to Plant Species Turnover and Coexistence, Dimensions US-China: Collaborative Research: Microbe eco-evolutionary feedbacks as drivers of plant coexistence and diversity gradients
OpenAlex ID: W3034615290