Abstract
Plants’ ability to take up silicon from the soil, accumulate it within their tissues and then reincorporate it into the soil through litter creates an intricate network of feedback mechanisms in ecosystems. Here, we provide a concise review of silicon’s roles in soil chemistry and physics and in plant physiology and ecology, focusing on the processes that form these feedback mechanisms. Through this review and analysis, we demonstrate how this feedback network drives ecosystem processes and affects ecosystem functioning. Consequently, we show that Si uptake and accumulation by plants is involved in several ecosystem services like soil appropriation, biomass supply, and carbon sequestration. Considering the demand for food of an increasing global population and the challenges of climate change, a detailed understanding of the underlying processes of these ecosystem services is of prime importance. Silicon and its role in ecosystem functioning and services thus should be the main focus of future research.
Highlights
Silicon (Si) uptake and accumulation is a functional trait with multiple implications for plant biology and ecology [1,2]
Regarding biogenic amorphous Si in soils, it should be kept in mind that the vast majority of studies have been focused on phytogenic silica, i.e., phytoliths
The importance of other biogenic Si pools, especially the protozoic one, for Si cycling in some ecosystems has been revealed, and their significance for Si cycling in terrestrial ecosystems might be comparable to the role of protists for Si cycling in the oceans
Summary
Silicon (Si) uptake and accumulation is a functional trait with multiple implications for plant biology and ecology [1,2]. Its uptake from the soil and eventual reincorporation into the soil through plant litter and herbivore feces affects soil properties and Si cycling [19,20,21,22,23]. Si uptake, accumulation and cycling by plants is a key phenomenon in many ecosystems [12,21,24,25,26], with direct and indirect implications for ecosystem properties and processes [1]. We review the existing knowledge of Si in the soil–plant continuum, its roles in plant biology and ecology, in ecosystem processes, and the possible implications for various ecosystem services
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