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Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities

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Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities. / Legay, N.; Baxendale, Catherine; Grigulis, K. et al.
In: Annals of Botany, Vol. 114, No. 5, 2014, p. 1011-1021.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Legay, N, Baxendale, C, Grigulis, K, Krainer, U, Kastl, E, Schloter, M, Bardgett, RD, Arnoldi, C, Bahn, M, Dumont, M, Poly, F, Pommier, T, Clement, JC & Lavorel, S 2014, 'Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities', Annals of Botany, vol. 114, no. 5, pp. 1011-1021. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcu169

APA

Legay, N., Baxendale, C., Grigulis, K., Krainer, U., Kastl, E., Schloter, M., Bardgett, R. D., Arnoldi, C., Bahn, M., Dumont, M., Poly, F., Pommier, T., Clement, J. C., & Lavorel, S. (2014). Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities. Annals of Botany, 114(5), 1011-1021. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcu169

Vancouver

Legay N, Baxendale C, Grigulis K, Krainer U, Kastl E, Schloter M et al. Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities. Annals of Botany. 2014;114(5):1011-1021. Epub 2014 Aug 13. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcu169

Author

Bibtex

@article{451610267c45464eb2f246a07a5a35a1,
title = "Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities",
abstract = "Background and Aims Abiotic properties of soil are known to be major drivers of the microbial community within it. Our understanding of how soil microbial properties are related to the functional structure and diversity of plant communities, however, is limited and largely restricted to above-ground plant traits, with the role of below-ground traits being poorly understood. This study investigated the relative contributions of soil abiotic properties and plant traits, both above-ground and below-ground, to variations in microbial processes involved in grassland nitrogen turnover.Methods In mountain grasslands distributed across three European sites, a correlative approach was used to examine the role of a large range of plant functional traits and soil abiotic factors on microbial variables, including gene abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers and their potential activities.Key Results Direct effects of soil abiotic parameters were found to have the most significant influence on the microbial groups investigated. Indirect pathways via plant functional traits contributed substantially to explaining the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria and gene abundances of the investigated microbial communities, while they explained little of the variance in microbial activities. Gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers were most strongly related to below-ground plant traits, suggesting that they were the most relevant traits for explaining variation in community structure and abundances of soil microbes involved in nitrification and denitrification.Conclusions The results suggest that consideration of plant traits, and especially below-ground traits, increases our ability to describe variation in the abundances and the functional characteristics of microbial communities in grassland soils.",
keywords = "Ammonia-oxidizing archaea, bacteria, denitrifiers, leaf traits, root traits, nitrite reducers, nitrite oxidizers, nutrient availability, plant functional traits, soil microbial community",
author = "N. Legay and Catherine Baxendale and K. Grigulis and U. Krainer and E. Kastl and M. Schloter and Bardgett, {Richard D.} and C. Arnoldi and M. Bahn and M. Dumont and F. Poly and T. Pommier and Clement, {J. C.} and S. Lavorel",
year = "2014",
doi = "10.1093/aob/mcu169",
language = "English",
volume = "114",
pages = "1011--1021",
journal = "Annals of Botany",
issn = "0305-7364",
publisher = "OXFORD UNIV PRESS",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities

AU - Legay, N.

AU - Baxendale, Catherine

AU - Grigulis, K.

AU - Krainer, U.

AU - Kastl, E.

AU - Schloter, M.

AU - Bardgett, Richard D.

AU - Arnoldi, C.

AU - Bahn, M.

AU - Dumont, M.

AU - Poly, F.

AU - Pommier, T.

AU - Clement, J. C.

AU - Lavorel, S.

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Background and Aims Abiotic properties of soil are known to be major drivers of the microbial community within it. Our understanding of how soil microbial properties are related to the functional structure and diversity of plant communities, however, is limited and largely restricted to above-ground plant traits, with the role of below-ground traits being poorly understood. This study investigated the relative contributions of soil abiotic properties and plant traits, both above-ground and below-ground, to variations in microbial processes involved in grassland nitrogen turnover.Methods In mountain grasslands distributed across three European sites, a correlative approach was used to examine the role of a large range of plant functional traits and soil abiotic factors on microbial variables, including gene abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers and their potential activities.Key Results Direct effects of soil abiotic parameters were found to have the most significant influence on the microbial groups investigated. Indirect pathways via plant functional traits contributed substantially to explaining the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria and gene abundances of the investigated microbial communities, while they explained little of the variance in microbial activities. Gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers were most strongly related to below-ground plant traits, suggesting that they were the most relevant traits for explaining variation in community structure and abundances of soil microbes involved in nitrification and denitrification.Conclusions The results suggest that consideration of plant traits, and especially below-ground traits, increases our ability to describe variation in the abundances and the functional characteristics of microbial communities in grassland soils.

AB - Background and Aims Abiotic properties of soil are known to be major drivers of the microbial community within it. Our understanding of how soil microbial properties are related to the functional structure and diversity of plant communities, however, is limited and largely restricted to above-ground plant traits, with the role of below-ground traits being poorly understood. This study investigated the relative contributions of soil abiotic properties and plant traits, both above-ground and below-ground, to variations in microbial processes involved in grassland nitrogen turnover.Methods In mountain grasslands distributed across three European sites, a correlative approach was used to examine the role of a large range of plant functional traits and soil abiotic factors on microbial variables, including gene abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers and their potential activities.Key Results Direct effects of soil abiotic parameters were found to have the most significant influence on the microbial groups investigated. Indirect pathways via plant functional traits contributed substantially to explaining the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria and gene abundances of the investigated microbial communities, while they explained little of the variance in microbial activities. Gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers were most strongly related to below-ground plant traits, suggesting that they were the most relevant traits for explaining variation in community structure and abundances of soil microbes involved in nitrification and denitrification.Conclusions The results suggest that consideration of plant traits, and especially below-ground traits, increases our ability to describe variation in the abundances and the functional characteristics of microbial communities in grassland soils.

KW - Ammonia-oxidizing archaea

KW - bacteria

KW - denitrifiers

KW - leaf traits

KW - root traits

KW - nitrite reducers

KW - nitrite oxidizers

KW - nutrient availability

KW - plant functional traits

KW - soil microbial community

U2 - 10.1093/aob/mcu169

DO - 10.1093/aob/mcu169

M3 - Journal article

VL - 114

SP - 1011

EP - 1021

JO - Annals of Botany

JF - Annals of Botany

SN - 0305-7364

IS - 5

ER -