Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/42894
Title: Fungal communities are passengers in community development of dune ecosystems, while bacteria are not
Authors: Gao , Chenguang
Bezemer, T. Martijn
van Bodegom, Peter M.
Baldrian, Petr
Kohout, Petr
MANCINELLI, Riccardo 
van der Hagen, Harrie
SOUDZILOVSKAIA, Nadia 
Issue Date: 2024
Publisher: WILEY
Source: ECOLOGY,
Status: Early view
Abstract: An increasing number of studies of above-belowground interactions provide a fundamental basis for our understanding of the coexistence between plant and soil communities. However, we lack empirical evidence to understand the directionality of drivers of plant and soil communities under natural conditions: 'Are soil microorganisms driving plant community functioning or do they adapt to the plant community?' In a field experiment in an early successional dune ecosystem, we manipulated soil communities by adding living (i.e., natural microbial communities) and sterile soil inocula, originating from natural ecosystems, and examined the annual responses of soil and plant communities. The experimental manipulations had a persistent effect on the soil microbial community with divergent impacts for living and sterile soil inocula. The plant community was also affected by soil inoculation, but there was no difference between the impacts of living and sterile inocula. We also observed an increasing convergence of plant and soil microbial composition over time. Our results show that alterations in soil abiotic and biotic conditions have long-term effects on the composition of both plant and soil microbial communities. Importantly, our study provides direct evidence that soil microorganisms are not "drivers" of plant community dynamics. We found that soil fungi and bacteria manifest different community assemblies in response to treatments. Soil fungi act as "passengers," that is, soil microorganisms reflect plant community dynamics but do not alter it, whereas soil bacteria are neither "drivers" nor "passengers" of plant community dynamics in early successional ecosystems. These results are critical for understanding the community assembly of plant and soil microbial communities under natural conditions and are directly relevant for ecosystem management and restoration.
Notes: Gao, CG (corresponding author), Leiden Univ, Inst Environm Sci, Environm Biol, Leiden, Netherlands.
c.gao@cml.leidenuniv.nl
Keywords: bacteria;coexistence;ecosystem dynamics;ecosystem restoration;field experiment;fungi;plant community;soil microbial community;sterilization;whole-soil inoculation
Document URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/42894
ISSN: 0012-9658
e-ISSN: 1939-9170
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4312
ISI #: 001208302300001
Datasets of the publication: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25425601.v1.
Rights: 2024 The Authors. Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. This is an open access article under the terms of theCreative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
Category: A1
Type: Journal Contribution
Appears in Collections:Research publications

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