Soil microbiota enhance the population growth rate of a nitrogen-fixing herbaceous legume.

ABSTRACT: Soil microbiota can modify a plant's growth and chemistry, with consequences for plant population persistence. Therefore, an approach that considers the entire life cycle of a given plant species may be necessary for quantifying the net effect of soil microbiota on longer-lived plants. Here, we investigated the effects of soil microbiota on the fitness-related traits and population growth rate of the nitrogen-fixing legume Lupinus polyphyllus. Using seeds collected from native (North American) and invasive (Finnish) populations of the species, we conducted a greenhouse experiment in which we manipulated the soil microbiota by adding to plants either intact or autoclaved soil inoculum obtained from invasive populations. We grew the plants for two growing seasons and recorded six fitn

SUBMITTER: Ramula S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12230798 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature