How plant–soil feedbacks influence the next generation of plants

Jonathan R De Long,T Martijn Bezemer,Martine Huberty,Katja Steinauer,Anna M Kielak,Robin Heinen,S Emilia Hannula,Renske Jongen

doi:10.1111/1440-1703.12165

Jonathan R De Long, T Martijn Bezemer + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.12165

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Abstract

AbstractIn response to environmental conditions, plants can alter the performance of the next generation through maternal effects. Since plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) influence soil conditions, PSFs likely create such intergenerational effects. We grew monocultures of three grass and three forb species in outdoor mesocosms. We then grew one of the six species, Hypochaeris radicata, in the conditioned soils and collected their seeds. We measured seed weight, carbon and nitrogen concentration, germination and seedling performance when grown on a common soil. We did not detect functional group intergenerational effects, but soils conditioned by different plant species affected H. radicata seed C to N ratios. There was a relationship between parent biomass in the differently conditioned soils and the germination rates of the offspring. However, these effects did not change offspring performance on a common soil. Our findings show that PSF effects changed seed quality and initial performance in a common grassland forb. We discuss the implications of our findings for multi‐generational plant–soil interactions, and highlight the need to further explore how PSF effects shape plant community dynamics over different generations and across a broad range of species and functional groups.

Highlights

Plant–soil feedback (PSF) research aims to understand how plant–soil interactions influence plant performance (De Long, Fry, Veen, & Kardol, 2018; Kulmatiski, Beard, Stevens, & Cobbold, 2008; van der Putten et al, 2013)
H. radicata plants grew best on soils conditioned by J. vulgaris, and worse on conspecific soil and soil conditioned by A. pratensis (Figure 2)
Seed C to N ratios were highest in seeds that came from plants grown in T. officinale soils and significantly higher than seeds that came from plants growing in H. lanatus, H. radicata and J. vulgaris soils (Figure 3d)

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Parent plants that experience negative PSFs will produce seeds that are smaller, less nutrient-rich and germinate worse, while the opposite will be true for plants that experience positive PSFs (Ehlers, Holmstrup, Schmidt, Sorensen, & Bataillon, 2018; Sultan et al, 2009); (b) Offspring that come from plants that experienced negative PSFs will perform worse when grown on a common, nutrient-rich substrate, while offspring from plants that experienced positive PSFs will perform better This is because plants from less stressful environments (e.g., nutrient-rich) usually produce offspring that grow better under similar environmental conditions (Latzel et al, 2014); and (c) Seed constitution and offspring performance will differ depending on whether plants were grown on grass versus forb soils, because grasses typically create positive PSFs for forbs, while forbs tend to create negative feedbacks for other forbs (Kos et al, 2015). Understanding if PSFs create intergenerational effects is critical to better understanding plant community dynamics in grasslands over multiple generations

| MATERIALS AND METHODS

| RESULTS

| DISCUSSION