Article
Engineering, Environmental
Fei Zheng, Guo-Wei Zhou, Dong Zhu, Roy Neilson, Yong-Guan Zhu, Bing Chen, Xiao-Ru Yang
Summary: The study finds that plant identity has a significant impact on the resistomes in soil, nematodes, and phyllosphere, and there is a possible pathway of resistome transfer through the soil-nematode-phyllosphere system. Plant identity indirectly alters the phyllosphere resistomes through complex above-and below-ground interactions.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Guy J. D. Kirk, Hanna R. Manwaring, Yoshiaki Ueda, Vimal K. Semwal, Matthias Wissuwa
Summary: Iron toxicity is a major constraint to rice production, with varying tolerance levels in rice germplasm. Future breeding programs should be based on well-characterized molecular markers for iron toxicity tolerance traits, and tailored screening methods should be developed for individual mechanisms. Understanding and breaking down the complex tolerance response into its components will be crucial for successfully identifying such markers.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Roshan Regmi, C. Ryan Penton, Jonathan Anderson, Vadakattu V. S. R. Gupta
Summary: In recent years, regulatory RNAs have been found to play important roles in host-microbe interactions. They have diverse functions in controlling gene expression in eukaryotes and bacteria. Moreover, there has been evidence of inter-kingdom communication and signaling mediated by small RNAs. The plant rhizosphere is a significant habitat for studying bacterial sRNAs and their roles in disease suppression.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Chenguang Gao, T. Martijn Bezemer, Peter M. van Bodegom, Hans C. Cornelissen, Richard van Logtestijn, Xiangyu Liu, Riccardo Mancinelli, Harrie van der Hagen, Meng Zhou, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia
Summary: Plant functional traits are influenced by soil abiotic and biotic factors, and changes in soil conditions can lead to a strong decoupling of above- and below-ground traits. Soil abiotic factors have a greater impact on the relationship between leaf and root traits than soil biota.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicolas Honvault, David Houben, Stephane Firmin, Hacene Meglouli, Frederic Laruelle, Joel Fontaine, Anissa Lounes-Hadj Sahraoui, Arnaud Coutu, Hans Lambers, Michel-Pierre Faucon
Summary: The study found multiple correlations between root morphology, root exudates, and rhizosheath fungal and bacterial communities, affecting plant phosphorus content and rhizosheath soil phosphorus concentration. Root exudation of carboxylates may play an important role in plant-soil-microbe interactions for phosphorus acquisition, potentially shaping microbial communities.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Qian Wang, Xiao Pan Pang, Zheng Gang Guo
Summary: Small semi-fossorial herbivores, such as plateau pikas, can have significant impacts on the allocation of aboveground and belowground biomass in grasslands. The presence of plateau pikas led to lower belowground biomass and belowground biomass/aboveground biomass ratio. Soil properties, such as soil moisture and total nitrogen, were positively correlated with belowground biomass/aboveground biomass ratio in the absence of plateau pikas, while soil organic carbon, carbon/nitrogen ratio, and total phosphorus were positively correlated in their presence.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Nianxun Xi, Sarah McCarthy-Neumann, Jiayi Feng, Hangyu Wu, Weitao Wang, Marina Semchenko
Summary: Plant-soil feedbacks are influenced by light availability and shade tolerance, and play a significant role in species coexistence in forest communities. High light conditions promote positive PSFs between species with different shade tolerance, while low light conditions lead to negative PSFs. Soil microbial composition and diversity, particularly the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, contribute to the variation in PSFs under high light. These findings enhance our understanding of how plant-soil feedbacks and shade tolerance interact to promote species coexistence.
Article
Plant Sciences
Mengesha Asefa, Samantha J. Worthy, Min Cao, Xiaoyang Song, Yudi M. Lozano, Jie Yang
Summary: The study found that above-ground and below-ground plant traits respond differently to soil moisture gradients, and that intraspecific competition and soil moisture conditions have complex and interacting effects on below-ground traits. Plants allocate resources differently under different conditions.
Article
Ecology
Dianye Zhang, Yunfeng Peng, Fei Li, Guibiao Yang, Jun Wang, Jianchun Yu, Guoying Zhou, Yuanhe Yang
Summary: This study addresses the impact of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on soil respiration in a Tibetan alpine steppe. The results indicate that above-/below-ground biodiversity loss, changes in plant community composition, and plant functional diversity play significant roles in regulating autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration in response to nitrogen enrichment.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Microbiology
Elisa Gamalero, Elisa Bona, Bernard R. Glick
Summary: This article provides an overview of current techniques used to study the interaction between plants and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). These techniques include studying plant microbiomes, DNA genome sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, genome editing, encapsulation of inoculants, imaging, nitrogenase assays, and specialized growth chambers.
Article
Plant Sciences
Monique Weemstra, Jenny Zambrano, David Allen, Maria Natalia Umana
Summary: This study indicates that resource economics cannot explain the relationships between leaf and root traits and tree growth rates. For trees with low or intermediate specific leaf area (SLA), thick roots may be considered acquisitive, associated with faster growth. Trees did not coordinate their leaf and root traits according to plant resource economics but enhanced their growth rates by combining thick roots with conservative leaves or vice versa.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ningyi Zhang, Jochem B. Evers, Niels P. R. Anten, Leo F. M. Marcelis
Summary: Plants growing in dense stands receive light signals of varying strength from all directions, including from below. How plants perceive, integrate, and respond to light signals from below is a major question that needs to be addressed to better understand light-mediated plant interactions in different ecological and agricultural settings.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Xingchang Wang, Jun Pan, Fan Liu, Hongyang Chen, Zhen Jiao, Shuang Liu, Chuankuan Wang
Summary: Understanding seasonal phenology changes is important for predicting ecosystem responses to climate change. Previous studies mainly focused on above- and below-ground plant parts, neglecting the role of soil microbes. In this study, we investigated the phenology of canopy leaves, fine roots, and soil microbial biomass in a temperate deciduous forest, revealing a trade-off in carbon allocation between aboveground and belowground tissues and complex interactions with soil microbes.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Shanxing Gong, Xinsheng Zhou, Xiumei Zhu, Jingli Huo, Maede Faghihinia, Bailiang Li, Yi Zou
Summary: Organic farming generally has greater biodiversity compared to conventional farming. Few studies have examined the biodiversity in organic farming of the rice field, especially the below-ground biodiversity, and the impact of the duration of organic farming on biodiversity is not well understood. This study found that organic farming increased arthropod species richness by 40%, with a significant increase in pests (75%) and natural enemies (35%), but there was no difference in soil microbial eukaryotes. The duration of organic farming did not significantly affect the diversity of arthropods and soil microbial eukaryotes. A compatibility index was used to evaluate the trade-off between biodiversity, rice yield, and economic benefits, and the results showed that economic benefits may outweigh the biodiversity gain in organic farming.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Monika Carol Resch, Martin Schuetz, Raul Ochoa-Hueso, Nina Buchmann, Beat Frey, Ulrich Graf, Wim H. van der Putten, Stephan Zimmermann, Anita C. Risch
Summary: Evaluation of restoration activities is crucial, and network analyses prove to be powerful in assessing the recovery of ecosystems by examining the response of both biotic and abiotic components.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Susana Rodriguez-Echeverria, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Jose A. Morillo, Aurora Gaxiola, Marlene Manzano, Pablo A. Marquet, Leticia Gonzalez, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Francisco I. Pugnaire, Cristina Armas
Summary: Research in the Chilean Andes has shown that in high-elevation ecosystems, cushion plants, aridity, and UV-B radiation are the major drivers of the distribution, composition, and diversity of soil microbial communities. Factors like pH, total C and N content have a much lower impact on the composition of soil microbial communities in these ecosystems.
Review
Plant Sciences
Richard Michalet, Florian Delerue, Pierre Liancourt, Francisco I. Pugnaire
Summary: The relationship between species richness and productivity is affected by environmental gradients, with competition shifting to facilitation being a key factor. According to literature and hypotheses, complementary effects are more likely to occur in moderately stressful environments. Therefore, better understanding the context dependency of complementarity processes and the role of facilitation is crucial for the protection of ecosystem functioning.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jose M. Gomez, Adela Gonzalez-Megias, Eduardo Narbona, Luis Navarro, Francisco Perfectti, Cristina Armas
Summary: The phenotypic plasticity in many flowers allows for rapid exploration of different regions of the floral morphospace. Moricandia arvensis exhibits a greater floral disparity driven by plasticity than that found between species, genera, and tribes, with its novel phenotype moving outside the region occupied by its ancestors and relatives, converging with distant Brassicaceae lineages, and encountering a different pollination niche. This suggests that phenotypic plasticity favors floral divergence and rapid appearance of convergent flowers, facilitating the evolution of generalist pollination systems.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rachel F. Kruger, Susana Rodriguez-Echeverria, Paola Quatrini, Matthew A. Parker
Summary: New research reveals that the spread of Scotch broom in North America involved the invasion of a European genetic element (SI) into North American Bradyrhizobium nodule bacteria. Additionally, the spread of this SI variant likely facilitated the invasion of Scotch broom in North American habitats.
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jose Ignacio Querejeta, Ivan Prieto, Cristina Armas, Fernando Casanoves, Joseph S. Dieme, Mayecor Diouf, Harouna Yossi, Bocary Kaya, Francisco Pugnaire, Graciela M. Rusch
Summary: This study investigates the variation in leaf nitrogen per area (N-area) and its relationship with oxygen and carbon isotopic composition in 34 Sahelian woody species, revealing the importance of leaf nitrogen content in determining stomatal conductance and water-use efficiency.
Article
Soil Science
Jose A. Morillo, Michele de Sa Dechoum, Francisco I. Pugnaire
Summary: Climate change affects precipitation, temperature, and soil microbial communities, which in turn influence plant species distribution. This study examines the interaction between increased temperature and soil microbes on seed germination in a tree species in the Atlantic rainforest. The results indicate that soil microbial communities play a significant role in seed germination, while the effect of warming is unclear.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Miguel Verdu, Jose L. Garrido, Julio M. Alcantara, Alicia Montesinos-Navarro, Salomon Aguilar, Marcelo A. Aizen, Ali A. Al-Namazi, Mohamed Alifriqui, David Allen, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Cristina Armas, Jesus M. Bastida, Tono Bellido, Giuliano Bonanomi, Gustavo B. Paterno, Herbert Briceno, Ricardo A. C. de Oliveira, Josefina G. Campoy, Ghassen Chaieb, Chengjin Chu, Sarah E. Collins, Richard Condit, Elena Constantinou, Cihan U. Degirmenci, Leo Delalandre, Milen Duarte, Michel Faife, Fatih Fazlioglu, Edwino S. Fernando, Joel Flores, Hilda Flores-Olvera, Ecaterina Fodor, Gislene Ganade, Maria Begona Garcia, Patricio Garcia-Fayos, Sabrina S. Gavini, Marta Goberna, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio, Enrique Gonzalez-Pendas, Ana Gonzalez-Robles, Stephen P. Hubbell, Kahraman Ipekdal, Maria J. Jorquera, Zaal Kikvidze, Pinar Kutkut, Alicia Ledo, Sandra Lendinez, Buhang Li, Hanlun Liu, Francisco Lloret, Ramiro P. Lopez, Alvaro Lopez-Garcia, Christopher J. Lortie, Gianalberto Losapio, James A. Lutz, Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga, Frantisek Malis, Esteban Manrique, Antonio J. Manzaneda, Vinicius Marcilio-Silva, Richard Michalet, Rafael Molina-Venegas, Jose Antonio Navarro-Cano, Vojtech Novotny, Jens M. Olesen, Juan P. Ortiz-Brunel, Maria Pajares-Murgo, Nikolas Parissis, Geoffrey Parker, Antonio J. Perea, Vidal Perez-Hernandez, Maria Angeles Perez-Navarro, Nuria Piston, Elisa Pizarro-Carbonell, Ivan Prieto, Jorge Prieto-Rubio, Francisco Pugnaire, Nelson Ramirez, Ruben Retuerto, Pedro J. Rey, Daniel A. Rodriguez Ginart, Mariana Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ricardo Sanchez-Martin, Christian Schob, Cagatay Tavsanoglu, Giorgi Tedoradze, Amanda Tercero-Araque, Katja Tielboerger, Blaise Touzard, Irem Tufekcioglu, Sevda Turkis, Francisco M. Usero, Nurbahar Usta, Alfonso Valiente-Banuet, Alexia Vargas-Colin, Ioannis Vogiatzakis, Regino Zamora
Summary: Plant recruitment interactions shape plant community composition, diversity, and structure. Modeling and analyzing the community-level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex network can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary processes. This data set includes 143 plant recruitment networks across five continents, providing valuable information for testing ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment interactions.
Article
Ecology
Nuria Piston, Dario S. E. Silva Filho, Andre T. C. Dias
Summary: Continuous monitoring of urban landscapes is vital to ensure that changes do not worsen existing inequalities or create new ones, especially in situations of poverty and economic and environmental inequality. However, there is limited understanding of how socioeconomic factors influence people's perception of Ecosystem Services (ES) in Latin American cities, where environmental governance is weak and social inequality and biodiversity are high. In this study, the social perception of ESs and Ecosystem Disservices (EDs) provided by street trees in Rio de Janeiro was investigated. The findings suggest that socioeconomic and ecological factors, such as social development index, population density, species richness, and arboreal deficit, affect people's perception of ESs and EDs.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jose M. Gomez, Adela Gonzalez-Megias, Cristina Armas, Eduardo Narbona, Luis Navarro, Francisco Perfectti
Summary: Plasticity can have direct effects on the interactions between species, by expanding or shifting interaction niches, and ultimately modifying the structure and functionality of ecological networks. This causal pathway may explain how interaction niches evolve quickly in response to rapid environmental changes and is important for understanding the impact of global change on ecological interactions.
Article
Ecology
Richard Michalet, Gianalberto Losapio, Zaal Kikvidze, Rob W. Brooker, Bradley J. Butterfield, Ragan M. Callaway, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Christopher J. Lortie, Francisco Pugnaire, Christian Schob
Summary: Plant interactions in extreme environments can be studied using paired and random sampling methods, but these methods may be affected by habitat-sharing effects. This study compared the results of the two methods in different levels of environmental heterogeneity and stress. The findings showed that the paired and random sampling methods provided similar results in homogeneous spaces, but the pairwise method yielded higher facilitation estimates than the random method in decreasing abundance gradients. The spatial associations between beneficiary and nurse species varied with increasing stress levels, and there were no differences in results between the two methods at different stress levels in some sites. However, weakly significant differences were found in the Italian site, which were unlikely due to habitat-sharing effects. Overall, the paired sampling method is important in understanding plant interactions in spatially conspicuous environments.
POPULATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Francisco I. Pugnaire, Karoline H. Aares, Mohamed Alifriqui, Kari Anne Brathen, Christian Kindler, Christian Schob, Esteban Manrique
Summary: Climate change and associated environmental alterations can disrupt the connection between plants and soil microbial communities, impacting processes like litter decomposition which influence nutrient and carbon cycling in ecosystems. Microbial decomposers may specialize in decomposing litter from their own community, known as the home field advantage hypothesis.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Francisco M. Usero, Jose A. Morillo, Cristina Armas, Marisa Gallardo, Rodney B. Thompson, Francisco I. Pugnaire
Summary: This study examined the impact of three crop management systems on tomato production and soil microbial communities. Results showed that adding organic matter significantly increased soil nitrogen content, respiration, and altered the composition of soil prokaryotic and fungal communities. Furthermore, the addition of organic matter reduced the presence and abundance of potential fungal pathogens, resulting in higher crop yields. These findings highlight the importance of organic matter management in developing sustainable agriculture.
SPANISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Liliane b. Zani, Ian d. Duarte, Antelmo ralph Falqueto, Francisco ignacio Pugnaire, Luis fernando t. de Menezes
Summary: Climate change has caused shifts in phenology in various species, but the interpretation of these shifts remains unclear without a yardstick. In this study, the effects of climate change on Allagoptera arenaria were assessed using open top chambers (OTCs) and rain gutters to mimic expected temperature and rainfall changes. The results showed that temperature increases may shorten the reproductive cycle of A. arenaria.
ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS
(2023)