Soil chemical legacies trigger species‐specific and context‐dependent root responses in later arriving plants

Soil legacies play an important role for the creation of priority effects. However, we still poorly understand to what extent the metabolome found in the soil solution of a plant community is conditioned by its species composition and whether soil chemical legacies affect subsequent species during a...

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Published in:Plant, cell and environment cell and environment, 2021-04, Vol.44 (4), p.1215-1230
Main Authors: Delory, Benjamin M., Schempp, Hannes, Spachmann, Sina Maria, Störzer, Laura, Dam, Nicole M., Temperton, Vicky M., Weinhold, Alexander
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical composition
Grasses
Multivariate statistical analysis
niche modification
Plant communities
plant–soil interactions
priority effect mechanism
root exudates
root traits
Soil chemistry
Soil solution
Soil testing
Soils
Species composition
untargeted metabolomics
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Summary:Soil legacies play an important role for the creation of priority effects. However, we still poorly understand to what extent the metabolome found in the soil solution of a plant community is conditioned by its species composition and whether soil chemical legacies affect subsequent species during assembly. To test these hypotheses, we collected soil solutions from forb or grass communities and evaluated how the metabolome of these soil solutions affected the growth, biomass allocation and functional traits of a forb (Dianthus deltoides) and a grass species (Festuca rubra). Results showed that the metabolomes found in the soil solutions of forb and grass communities differed in composition and chemical diversity. While soil chemical legacies did not have any effect on F. rubra, root foraging by D. deltoides decreased when plants received the soil solution from a grass or a forb community. Structural equation modelling showed that reduced soil exploration by D. deltoides arose via either a root growth‐dependent pathway (forb metabolome) or a root trait‐dependent pathway (grass metabolome). Reduced root foraging was not connected to a decrease in total N uptake. Our findings reveal that soil chemical legacies can create belowground priority effects by affecting root foraging in later arriving plants. Soil chemical legacies affected root foraging in Dianthus deltoides, but not in Festuca rubra. The biological mechanism responsible for altered root foraging in later arriving plants was dependent on the composition of the metabolome found in the soil solution of plant communities.
ISSN:0140-7791
1365-3040
DOI:10.1111/pce.13999