Tolerance to land-use changes through natural modulations of the plant microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Land-use changes threaten ecosystems and are a major driver of species loss. Plants may adapt or migrate to resist global change, but this can lag behind rapid anthropogenic changes to the environment. Our data show that natural modulations of the microbiome of grassland plants in response to experimental land-use change in a common garden directly affect plant phenotype and performance, thus increasing plant tolerance. In contrast, direct effects of fertilizer application and mowing on plant phenotypes were less strong. Land-use intensity-specific microbiomes caused clearly distinguishable plant phenotypes also in a laboratory experiment using gnotobiotic strawberry plants in absence of environmental variation. Therefore, natural modulations of the plant microbiome may be key to species p

SUBMITTER: Zieschank V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11833322 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature