TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant attributes explain the distribution of soil microbial communities in two contrasting regions of the globe
AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
AU - Fry, Ellen L.
AU - Eldridge, David J.
AU - de Vries, Franciska T.
AU - Manning, Peter
AU - Hamonts, Kelly
AU - Kattge, Jens
AU - Boenisch, Gerhard
AU - Singh, Brajesh K.
AU - Bardgett, Richard D.
N1 - Funding Information:
M.D-B. acknowledges support from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 under REA grant agreement no. 702057. M.D-B. is also supported by the British Ecological Society (BES grant agreement no. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET)). E.L.F. was supported by the NERC Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and Sustainability programme (Wessex BESS, ref. NE/J014680/1). R.D.B. acknowledges the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (Grant BD1451) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (grant BB/I009000/2) for supporting the generation of the English dataset, and D. Millward, R. S. Smith, and S. Barlow who performed the English vegetation surveys. B.K.S. and M.D-B. are supported by the Australian Research Council project (DP170104634). D.J.E. was supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation. We also thank MPI-BGC Jena, who host TRY, and the international funding networks supporting TRY (IGBP, DIVERSITAS, GLP, NERC, QUEST, FRB and GIS Climate).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - We lack strong empirical evidence for links between plant attributes (plant community attributes and functional traits) and the distribution of soil microbial communities at large spatial scales. Using datasets from two contrasting regions and ecosystem types in Australia and England, we report that aboveground plant community attributes, such as diversity (species richness) and cover, and functional traits can predict a unique portion of the variation in the diversity (number of phylotypes) and community composition of soil bacteria and fungi that cannot be explained by soil abiotic properties and climate. We further identify the relative importance and evaluate the potential direct and indirect effects of climate, soil properties and plant attributes in regulating the diversity and community composition of soil microbial communities. Finally, we deliver a list of examples of common taxa from Australia and England that are strongly related to specific plant traits, such as specific leaf area index, leaf nitrogen and nitrogen fixation. Together, our work provides new evidence that plant attributes, especially plant functional traits, can predict the distribution of soil microbial communities at the regional scale and across two hemispheres.
AB - We lack strong empirical evidence for links between plant attributes (plant community attributes and functional traits) and the distribution of soil microbial communities at large spatial scales. Using datasets from two contrasting regions and ecosystem types in Australia and England, we report that aboveground plant community attributes, such as diversity (species richness) and cover, and functional traits can predict a unique portion of the variation in the diversity (number of phylotypes) and community composition of soil bacteria and fungi that cannot be explained by soil abiotic properties and climate. We further identify the relative importance and evaluate the potential direct and indirect effects of climate, soil properties and plant attributes in regulating the diversity and community composition of soil microbial communities. Finally, we deliver a list of examples of common taxa from Australia and England that are strongly related to specific plant traits, such as specific leaf area index, leaf nitrogen and nitrogen fixation. Together, our work provides new evidence that plant attributes, especially plant functional traits, can predict the distribution of soil microbial communities at the regional scale and across two hemispheres.
KW - bacteria
KW - biodiversity
KW - fungi
KW - plant functional traits
KW - terrestrial ecosystems
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U2 - 10.1111/nph.15161
DO - 10.1111/nph.15161
M3 - Article (journal)
C2 - 29672854
AN - SCOPUS:85045737023
SN - 0028-646X
VL - 219
SP - 574
EP - 587
JO - New Phytologist
JF - New Phytologist
IS - 2
ER -
