Effects of Short- and Long-Term Variation in Resource Conditions on Soil Fungal Communities and Plant Responses to Soil Biota.

ABSTRACT: Soil biota can strongly influence plant performance with effects ranging from negative to positive. However, shifts in resource availability can influence plant responses, with soil pathogens having stronger negative effects in high-resource environments and soil mutualists, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), having stronger positive effects in low-resource environments. Yet the relative importance of long-term vs. short-term variation in resources on soil biota and plant responses is not well-known. To assess this, we grew the perennial herb Asclepias speciosa in a greenhouse experiment that crossed a watering treatment (wet vs. dry treatment) with a manipulation of soil biota (live vs. sterilized soil) collected from two geographic regions (Washington and Minnesota) that

SUBMITTER: Hahn PG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6233719 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature