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Picture: The photo shows a green meadow in the sunshine with two adjacent experimental sites. At the left-hand site, there is a rectangular black bowl with plants in it in the grass. Thin wooden rods are stuck in the ground around the bowl at the four corners, to which a transparent white cloth is attached with clamps as a canopy over the plants. At the right-hand experimental site, there are plants in black flower pots on a base that is also black and a few centimetres high with openings in it. Here too, there are four wooden rods in the ground, to which a transparent white cloth in the shape of a cube is attached with clamps, which completely encloses the plants on all sides

In greenhouse experiments, effects of soil biota on plant growth along a land-use intensity gradient in the exploratories were shown to contribute to plant-species coexistence and biodiversity in grassland ecosystems by influencing plant-species dominance especially in soils of less intensively managed grasslands. However, when comparing feedback effects of soil biota on plant growth under greenhouse and field conditions, we detected in recent experiments consistent differences: In contrast to the greenhouse, there was a generally positive effect of plant diversity on PSFs in the field.


Previous results from the Biodiversity Exploratories show that land-use intensity affects diversity across trophic levels (plants, herbivores, non-AMF soil fungi) with some exceptional groups, however, such as AMF fungi, where diversity was not influenced by land‐use intensity.

In the Biodiversity Exploratories project, we will explicitly test (1) the impact of land-use and land-use related biodiversity on species-specific PSFs directly in the field. By setting up a combined plant-competition and soil-diversity experiment at the different land-use intensities and by experimentally excluding above- and belowground herbivores (see Fig. 1) in a fully factorial design, we will (2) provide mechanistic resolution regarding the impact of land-use-related diversity on the strength and direction of PSFs and thus on plant coexistence and biodiversity in grasslands. We will additionally (3) investigate the individual direct and indirect effects of abiotic factors such as fertilization on PSFs under natural field conditions.


As land-use intensity affects the diversity of plants, as the diversity of plants resulted in positive soil-feedback effects on plant growth in a previous field experiment, and as plant growth affects both abiotic and biotic soil properties, we will investigate in a series of greenhouse experiments (4) the effect and importance of land-use related soil-biota diversity on plant coexistence by testing biotic soil legacy and PSF effects of 75 grassland MIPs screening a large set of common plant species.


Doc
Das Plant-Soil-Feedback von Graslandarten nach Herbivoren-Einwirkung mit unterschiedlicher Intensität
Fronia A. (2020): Das Plant-Soil-Feedback von Graslandarten nach Herbivoren-Einwirkung mit unterschiedlicher Intensität. Master thesis, University Potsdam
Doc
Die relative Bedeutung von Pflanzen-Boden-Feedbacks für die Leistung von Pflanzenarten steigt mit abnehmender Intensität von Herbivorie
Heinze J., Simons N. K., Seibold S., Wacker A., Weithoff G., Gossner M. M., Prati D., Bezemer M. T., Joshi J. (2019): The relative importance of plant-soil feedbacks for plant-species performance increases with decreasing intensity of herbivory. Oecologia 190 (3), 651-664. doi: 10.1007/s00442-019-04442-9
More information:  doi.org
Doc
Wechselwirkungen zwischen Bodenmikroorganismen und Pflanzen spielen eine untergeordnete Rolle für die lokale Anpassung von Plantago lanceolata
Kirchhoff L., Kirschbaum A., Joshi J., Bossdorf O., Scheepens N. F., Heinze J. (2019): Plant-Soil Feedbacks of Plantago lanceolata in the Field Depend on Plant Origin and Herbivory. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7:422. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00422
More information:  doi.org

Scientific assistants

Prof. Dr. Jasmin Joshi
Alumni
Prof. Dr. Jasmin Joshi
Dr. Johannes Heinze
Alumni
Dr. Johannes Heinze
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