Plant community composition steers grassland vegetation via soil legacy effects

TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant community composition steers grassland vegetation via soil legacy effects

AU - Heinen, R.

AU - Hannula, Emilia

AU - De Long, J.

AU - Huberty, M.D.

AU - Jongen, R.

AU - Kielak, A.M.

AU - Steinauer, K.

AU - Zhu, F.

AU - Bezemer, T.M.

N1 - 6935, TE; Data archiving: data archived at Dryad

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Soil legacy effects are commonly highlighted as drivers of plant community dynamics and species co‐existence. However, experimental evidence for soil legacy effects of conditioning plant communities on responding plant communities under natural conditions is lacking. We conditioned 192 grassland plots using six different plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs and for different durations. Soil microbial legacies were evident for soil fungi, but not for soil bacteria, while soil abiotic parameters did not significantly change in response to conditioning. The soil legacies affected the composition of the succeeding vegetation. Plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs left soil legacies that negatively affected succeeding plants of the same functional type. We conclude that fungal‐mediated soil legacy effects play a significant role in vegetation assembly of natural plant communities.

AB - Soil legacy effects are commonly highlighted as drivers of plant community dynamics and species co‐existence. However, experimental evidence for soil legacy effects of conditioning plant communities on responding plant communities under natural conditions is lacking. We conditioned 192 grassland plots using six different plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs and for different durations. Soil microbial legacies were evident for soil fungi, but not for soil bacteria, while soil abiotic parameters did not significantly change in response to conditioning. The soil legacies affected the composition of the succeeding vegetation. Plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs left soil legacies that negatively affected succeeding plants of the same functional type. We conclude that fungal‐mediated soil legacy effects play a significant role in vegetation assembly of natural plant communities.

KW - NIOO

KW - Plan_S-Compliant-TA

UR - https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.70rxwdbtg

U2 - 10.1111/ele.13497

DO - 10.1111/ele.13497

M3 - Article

SN - 1461-023X

VL - 23

SP - 973

EP - 982

JO - Ecology Letters

JF - Ecology Letters

IS - 6

ER -