10.5061/DRYAD.RBNZS7HCZ
Wilschut, Rutger A.
0000-0002-2559-9799
University of Konstanz
van Kleunen, Mark
University of Konstanz
Buchenau, Nikolas
University of Konstanz
Direct and legacy-mediated drought effects on plant performance are
species-specific and depend on soil community composition
Dryad
dataset
2022
Plant-soil feedbacks
Drought-stress amelioration
Drought-legacy effects
Soil community modification
structural equation modelling
FOS: Biological sciences
2022-03-08T00:00:00Z
2022-03-08T00:00:00Z
en
51899 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Droughts affect plant communities, but their impacts may be mediated by
soil biota. Soil communities may ameliorate drought stress, and droughts
may leave legacies of altered soil communities that may affect future
plant growth. However, it is not yet understood which groups of soil biota
in particular affect plant performance under drought, nor which groups
contribute to drought-legacy effects on future plant growth. We
hypothesized that increasing soil-community complexity ameliorates drought
stress and that drought-legacy effects are species-specific and
soil-community-dependent. To test these hypotheses, we performed a
two-phase experiment with six grassland species. In the first phase, we
examined plant performance under drought and ambient conditions, in soils
inoculated with a sterilized inoculum, or increasingly complex soil
communities created by wet-sieving through 20-, 40-, and 200-µm mesh
sieves. In the second phase, we examined drought-legacy effects on
conspecific plant performance. We separately analysed plant performance in
both phases, and integrated data from both phases using structural
equation models. Drought effects on first-phase root biomass depended on
soil inoculum, and this interaction differed among plant species, while
effects on shoot biomass differed among species, but did not depend on
inoculum. Only one species experienced drought-stress-ameliorating effects
of soil biota. Drought-legacy effects on plant performance were positive,
but depended on soil inoculum in case of root biomass, and on soil
inoculum and species identity in case of shoot biomass. Drought-legacy
effects were often mediated by first-phase biomass. In some species this
effect was independent of inoculum, suggesting an abiotic legacy effect.
In others, low first-phase biomass corresponded with high second-phase
performance in presence of the most complex soil community. We conclude
that drought-legacy effects on plant performance were
soil-community-dependent but positive, suggesting that plants establishing
after drought may benefit from increased nutrient availability and more
positive impacts of soil biota.
Plant performance data from a two-phase experiment. In the first phase, 6
grassland plant species were exposed to a drought treatment and different
soil communities, created using wet-sieving with different mesh sizes. In
the second phase, the same plant species were grown in soil conditioned by
conspecifics, and the legacy effects of first-phase treatments (drought
and inoculum) were examined. In both phases, root, shoot and total biomass
were determined.