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Goldberg DE, Martina JP, Elgersma KJ, Currie WS. Plant Size and Competitive Dynamics along Nutrient Gradients. Am Nat 2017; 190:229-243. [DOI: 10.1086/692438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Ke PJ, Miki T. Incorporating the soil environment and microbial community into plant competition theory. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:1066. [PMID: 26500621 PMCID: PMC4597134 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2015] [Accepted: 09/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Plants affect microbial communities and abiotic properties of nearby soils, which in turn influence plant growth and interspecific interaction, forming a plant-soil feedback (PSF). PSF is a key determinant influencing plant population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem functions. Despite accumulating evidence for the importance of PSF and development of specific PSF models, different models are not yet fully integrated. Here, we review the theoretical progress in understanding PSF. When first proposed, PSF was integrated with various mathematical frameworks to discuss its influence on plant competition. Recent theoretical models have advanced PSF research at different levels of ecological organizations by considering multiple species, applying spatially explicit simulations to examine how local-scale predictions apply to larger scales, and assessing the effect of PSF on plant temporal dynamics over the course of succession. We then review two foundational models for microbial- and litter-mediated PSF. We present a theoretical framework to illustrate that although the two models are typically presented separately, their behavior can be understood together by invasibility analysis. We conclude with suggestions for future directions in PSF theoretical studies, which include specifically addressing microbial diversity to integrate litter- and microbial-mediated PSF, and apply PSF to general coexistence theory through a trait-based approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Po-Ju Ke
- Department of Biology, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA, USA
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan
| | - Takeshi Miki
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan
- Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia SinicaTaipei, Taiwan
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Currie WS, Goldberg DE, Martina J, Wildova R, Farrer E, Elgersma KJ. Emergence of nutrient-cycling feedbacks related to plant size and invasion success in a wetland community–ecosystem model. Ecol Modell 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2014.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Stability in ecosystem functioning across a climatic threshold and contrasting forest regimes. PLoS One 2011; 6:e16134. [PMID: 21267469 PMCID: PMC3022756 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2010] [Accepted: 12/10/2010] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Classical ecological theory predicts that changes in the availability of essential resources such as nitrogen should lead to changes in plant community composition due to differences in species-specific nutrient requirements. What remains unknown, however, is the extent to which climate change will alter the relationship between plant communities and the nitrogen cycle. During intervals of climate change, do changes in nitrogen cycling lead to vegetation change or do changes in community composition alter the nitrogen dynamics? We used long-term ecological data to determine the role of nitrogen availability in changes of forest species composition under a rapidly changing climate during the early Holocene (16k to 8k cal. yrs. BP). A statistical computational analysis of ecological data spanning 8,000 years showed that secondary succession from a coniferous to deciduous forest occurred independently of changes in the nitrogen cycle. As oak replaced pine under a warming climate, nitrogen cycling rates increased. Interestingly, the mechanism by which the species interacted with nitrogen remained stable across this threshold change in climate and in the dominant tree species. This suggests that changes in tree population density over successional time scales are not driven by nitrogen availability. Thus, current models of forest succession that incorporate the effects of available nitrogen may be over-estimating tree population responses to changes in this resource, which may result in biased predictions of future forest dynamics under climate warming.
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Golubski A, Gross K, Mittelbach G. Recycling‐Mediated Facilitation and Coexistence Based on Plant Size. Am Nat 2010; 176:588-600. [DOI: 10.1086/656493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Menge DNL, Pacala SW, Hedin LO. Emergence and maintenance of nutrient limitation over multiple timescales in terrestrial ecosystems. Am Nat 2010; 173:164-75. [PMID: 19117424 DOI: 10.1086/595749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Nutrient availability often limits primary production, yet the processes governing the dynamics of nutrient limitation are poorly understood. In particular, plant-available (e.g., nitrate) versus plant-unavailable (e.g., dissolved organic nitrogen) nutrient losses may have qualitatively different impacts on nutrient limitation. We examine processes controlling equilibrium and transient nutrient dynamics at three separate timescales in a model of a nutrient cycling through plants and soil. When the only losses are from the plant-available nutrient pool, nutrient limitation at a long-term equilibrium is impossible under a wide class of conditions. However, plant biomass will appear to level off on a timescale controlled by plant nutrient turnover (years in grasslands, decades to centuries in forests), even though it can grow slowly forever. Primary production can be nutrient limited in the long-term when there are losses of plant-unavailable nutrients or when the mineralization flux saturates with increasing detrital mass. The long timescale required for soil nutrient buildup is set by the plant-unavailable loss rate (centuries to millennia). The short timescale (hours to days) at which available nutrients in the soil equilibrate in the model is controlled by biotic uptake. These insights into processes controlling different timescales in terrestrial ecosystems can help guide empirical and experimental studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duncan N L Menge
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
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Gonzales EK, Clements DR. Plant Community Biomass Shifts in Response to Mowing and Fencing in Invaded Oak Meadows with Non-Native Grasses and Abundant Ungulates. Restor Ecol 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1526-100x.2009.00535.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Miki T, Ushio M, Fukui S, Kondoh M. Functional diversity of microbial decomposers facilitates plant coexistence in a plant-microbe-soil feedback model. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 107:14251-6. [PMID: 20663953 PMCID: PMC2922608 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914281107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Theory and empirical evidence suggest that plant-soil feedback (PSF) determines the structure of a plant community and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The plant community alters the nutrient pool size in soil by affecting litter decomposition processes, which in turn shapes the plant community, forming a PSF system. However, the role of microbial decomposers in PSF function is often overlooked, and it remains unclear whether decomposers reinforce or weaken litter-mediated plant control over nutrient cycling. Here, we present a theoretical model incorporating the functional diversity of both plants and microbial decomposers. Two fundamental microbial processes are included that control nutrient mineralization from plant litter: (i) assimilation of mineralized nutrient into the microbial biomass (microbial immobilization), and (ii) release of the microbial nutrients into the inorganic nutrient pool (net mineralization). With this model, we show that microbial diversity may act as a buffer that weakens plant control over the soil nutrient pool, reversing the sign of PSF from positive to negative and facilitating plant coexistence. This is explained by the decoupling of litter decomposability and nutrient pool size arising from a flexible change in the microbial community composition and decomposition processes in response to variations in plant litter decomposability. Our results suggest that the microbial community plays a central role in PSF function and the plant community structure. Furthermore, the results strongly imply that the plant-centered view of nutrient cycling should be changed to a plant-microbe-soil feedback system, by incorporating the community ecology of microbial decomposers and their functional diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Miki
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
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Everard K, Seabloom EW, Harpole WS, de Mazancourt C. Plant water use affects competition for nitrogen: why drought favors invasive species in California. Am Nat 2010; 175:85-97. [PMID: 19916786 DOI: 10.1086/648557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Abstract: Classic resource competition theory typically treats resource supply rates as independent; however, nutrient supplies can be affected by plants indirectly, with important consequences for model predictions. We demonstrate this general phenomenon by using a model in which competition for nitrogen is mediated by soil moisture, with competitive outcomes including coexistence and multiple stable states as well as competitive exclusion. In the model, soil moisture regulates nitrogen availability through soil moisture dependence of microbial processes, leaching, and plant uptake. By affecting water availability, plants also indirectly affect nitrogen availability and may therefore alter the competitive outcome. Exotic annual species from the Mediterranean have displaced much of the native perennial grasses in California. Nitrogen and water have been shown to be potentially limiting in this system. We parameterize the model for a Californian grassland and show that soil moisture-mediated competition for nitrogen can explain the annual species' dominance in drier areas, with coexistence expected in wetter regions. These results are concordant with larger biogeographic patterns of grassland invasion in the Pacific states of the United States, in which annual grasses have invaded most of the hot, dry grasslands in California but perennial grasses dominate the moister prairies of northern California, Oregon, and Washington.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Everard
- Division of Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
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Kylafis G, Loreau M. Ecological and evolutionary consequences of niche construction for its agent. Ecol Lett 2008; 11:1072-81. [PMID: 18727670 DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01220.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Niche construction can generate ecological and evolutionary feedbacks that have been underinvestigated so far. We present an eco-evolutionary model that incorporates the process of niche construction to reveal its effects on the ecology and evolution of the niche-constructing agent. We consider a simple plant-soil nutrient ecosystem in which plants have the ability to increase the input of inorganic nutrient as an example of positive niche construction. On an ecological time scale, the model shows that niche construction allows the persistence of plants under infertile soil conditions that would otherwise lead to their extinction. This expansion of plants' niche, however, requires a high enough rate of niche construction and a high enough initial plant biomass to fuel the positive ecological feedback between plants and their soil environment. On an evolutionary time scale, we consider that the rates of niche construction and nutrient uptake coevolve in plants while a trade-off constrains their values. Different evolutionary outcomes are possible depending on the shape of the trade-off. We show that niche construction results in an evolutionary feedback between plants and their soil environment such that plants partially regulate soil nutrient content. The direct benefit accruing to plants, however, plays a crucial role in the evolutionary advantage of niche construction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grigoris Kylafis
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, QC H3A1B1, Canada.
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Manning P, Morrison SA, Bonkowski M, Bardgett RD. Nitrogen enrichment modifies plant community structure via changes to plant-soil feedback. Oecologia 2008; 157:661-73. [PMID: 18629543 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-008-1104-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2007] [Accepted: 06/18/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that N enrichment modifies plant-soil feedback relationships, resulting in changes to plant community composition. This was done in a two-phase glasshouse experiment. In the first phase, we grew eight annual plant species in monoculture at two levels of N addition. Plants were harvested at senescence and the effect of each species on a range of soil properties was measured. In the second phase, the eight plant species were grown in multi-species mixtures in the eight soils conditioned by the species in the first phase, at both levels of N addition. At senescence, species performance was measured as aboveground biomass. We found that in the first phase, plant species identity strongly influenced several soil properties, including microbial and protist biomass, soil moisture content and the availability of several soil nutrients. Species effects on the soil were mostly independent of N addition and several were strongly correlated with plant biomass. In the second phase, both the performance of individual species and overall community structure were influenced by the interacting effects of the species identity of the previous soil occupant and the rate of N addition. This indicates that N enrichment modified plant-soil feedback. The performance of two species correlated with differences in soil N availability that were generated by the species formerly occupying the soil. However, negative feedback (poorer performance on the soil of conspecifics relative to that of heterospecifics) was only observed for one species. In conclusion, we provide evidence that N enrichment modifies plant-soil feedback relationships and that these modifications may affect plant community composition. Field testing and further investigations into which mechanisms dominate feedback are required before we fully understand how and when feedback processes determine plant community responses to N enrichment.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Manning
- Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Population Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, UK.
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Baer SG, Blair JM. GRASSLAND ESTABLISHMENT UNDER VARYING RESOURCE AVAILABILITY: A TEST OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. Ecology 2008; 89:1859-71. [DOI: 10.1890/07-0417.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric G Lamb
- Department of Biological Sciences, CW 315 Biological Sciences Building University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
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