A plant-microbial trait framework for interrogating soil functioning
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Earth Atmospheric and Env Sciences
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| Richard Bardgett (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Cano-Díaz C
(2020)
Contrasting environmental preferences of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic soil cyanobacteria across the globe
in Global Ecology and Biogeography
Delgado-Baquerizo M
(2018)
A global atlas of the dominant bacteria found in soil.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Egidi E
(2019)
A few Ascomycota taxa dominate soil fungal communities worldwide.
in Nature communications
Leff JW
(2018)
Predicting the structure of soil communities from plant community taxonomy, phylogeny, and traits.
in The ISME journal
Richard D. Bardgett
(2017)
Plant trait-based approaches for interrogating belowground function
in Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
Schrama M
(2023)
Cessation of grazing causes biodiversity loss and homogenization of soil food webs
in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Semchenko M
(2018)
Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland.
in Science advances
| Description | We have made significant progress in meeting our objectives and have produced three publications, two published and one in press, and have another about to be submitted, based on the work done during this partnership award. Progress so far is detailed below. 1. Our research paper, based on our collaboration, has been published in the leading microbial ecology journal, The ISME Journal (Leff et al. 2018). The study tested, in both monocultures and field-grown mixed temperate grassland communities, whether plant attributes predict soil communities including taxonomic groups from across the tree of life. The composition of all soil community groups was affected by plant species identity, both in monocultures and in mixed communities. Moreover, plant community composition predicted additional variation in soil community composition beyond what could be predicted from soil abiotic characteristics. In addition, analysis of the field aboveground plant community composition and the composition of plant roots suggests that plant community attributes are better predictors of soil communities than root distributions. However, neither plant phylogeny nor plant traits were strong predictors of soil communities in either experiment. These results demonstrate that grassland plant species form specific associations with soil community members and that information on plant species distributions can improve predictions of soil community composition. These results indicate that specific associations between plant species and complex soil communities are key determinants of biodiversity patterns in grassland soils. 2. Based on our collaboration, additional data from UK grasslands, generated in part through our partnership, was included in a global atlas of dominant bacteria in soil published in Science (Delgado-Baquerizo et al. 2018). The study involved analysing soils from 237 locations across six continents, including grasslands that were the focus of our partnership, and found that only 2% of bacterial phylotypes (i.e. 500 phylotypes) consistently accounted for almost half of the soil bacterial communities worldwide. Despite the overwhelming diversity of bacterial communities, relatively few bacterial taxa are abundant in soils globally. We clustered these dominant taxa into ecological groups to build the first global atlas of soil bacterial taxa. Our study narrows down the immense number of bacterial taxa to a "most wanted" list that will be fruitful targets for genomic and cultivation-based efforts aimed at improving our understanding of soil microbes and their contributions to ecosystem functioning. 3. An associated paper, published in Nature Communications, based on a survey of 235 soils from across the globe, found that 83 phylotypes (<0.1% of the retrieved fungi), mostly belonging to wind dispersed, generalist Ascomycota, dominate soils globally (Egidi et al. 2019). We identified patterns and ecological drivers of dominant soil fungal taxa occurrence, and presented a map of their distribution in soils worldwide. Our findings constitute a major advance in our understanding of the ecology of fungi, and have implications for the development of strategies to preserve them and the ecosystem functions they provide. 4. A research paper, based on our collaboration, has been published in the leading multidisciplinary journal Science Advances (Semchenko et al. 2018). This study, which builds on that of Leff et al. (2018), showed that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal, and saprotrophic fungi is a primary regulator of plant-soil feedbacks across a broad range of temperate grassland plant species. We showed that plant species with resource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thin roots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialist saprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plant growth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soil properties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils, promoting antagonistic relationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity to predict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamental links between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies, and the diversity of fungal guilds in soil. 5. Finally, the lead PI published an conceptual review on using plant trait-based approaches for interrogating belowground function, based in part on the ideas behind this partnership award (Bardgett 2017). The review identified three challenges. First, there is a need for improved understanding of genotypic-and species-level variation in plant traits, especially of root traits that have the strongest potential to influence soil function. Second, there is a need to incorporate new understanding of links between plant traits and soil processes into terrestrial biogeochemical and dynamic vegetation models. Finally, there is a need to harness new understanding of plant traits and their impact on soil functions in sustainable food production systems, in particular to enhance resource acquisition by crop plants. |
| Exploitation Route | The project has ended but we envisage that the trait-based framework developed as part of this project will be of use for future projects testing the importance of plant traits for microbial communities in grassland and other ecosystems. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Description | Stakeholder Science Workshop, Colt Park (see engagement entry) |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Diversity, stability and functioning of the soil microbiome |
| Amount | € 2,500,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 883621 - SoilResist - ERC-2019-ADG |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 06/2021 |
| End | 05/2026 |
| Description | Keynote talk on soil microbial community responses to climate extremes: resistance, resilience and transitions to alternative states, Soil Ecology Lecture Series, China, 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on soil microbial community responses to climate extremes: resistance, resilience and transitions to alternative states to the Chinese Soil Ecology Lecture Series, which provoked a series of questions and some future collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Plenary Lecture British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Belfast, 2019. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Plenary Lecture, The hidden majority: soil biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and global change. Celebrating Global Ecology, British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Belfast, Dec 2019. The talk generated discussions and debate, and helped to raise awareness of the importance of soil biodiversity for ecological processes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Stakeholder Science Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop held at Colt Park National Nature Reserve with scientists and practitioners from Natural England to discuss outcomes of BBSRC and Defra funded research done on Ingleborough National Nature Reserve. The audience included staff from Natural England, collaborators from the US (Colorado and Yale), and research scientists at Manchester, Aberdeen, and Lancaster University and CEH Lancaster. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |