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Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass

Although several studies have shown increased native plant establishment with native microbe soil amendments, few studies have investigated how microbes can alter seedling recruitment and establishment in the presence of a non-native competitor. In this study, the effect of microbial communities on...

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Autores principales: Koziol, Liz, McKenna, Thomas P., Bever, James D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12051184
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author Koziol, Liz
McKenna, Thomas P.
Bever, James D.
author_facet Koziol, Liz
McKenna, Thomas P.
Bever, James D.
author_sort Koziol, Liz
collection PubMed
description Although several studies have shown increased native plant establishment with native microbe soil amendments, few studies have investigated how microbes can alter seedling recruitment and establishment in the presence of a non-native competitor. In this study, the effect of microbial communities on seedling biomass and diversity was assessed by seeding pots with both native prairie seeds and a non-native grass that commonly invades US grassland restorations, Setaria faberi. Soil in the pots was inoculated with whole soil collections from ex-arable land, late successional arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi isolated from a nearby tallgrass prairie, with both prairie AM fungi and ex-arable whole soil, or with a sterile soil (control). We hypothesized (1) late successional plants would benefit from native AM fungi, (2) that non-native plants would outcompete native plants in ex-arable soils, and (3) early successional plants would be unresponsive to microbes. Overall, native plant abundance, late successional plant abundance, and total diversity were greatest in the native AM fungi+ ex-arable soil treatment. These increases led to decreased abundance of the non-native grass S. faberi. These results highlight the importance of late successional native microbes on native seed establishment and demonstrate that microbes can be harnessed to improve both plant community diversity and resistance to invasion during the nascent stages of restoration.
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spelling pubmed-100055572023-03-11 Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass Koziol, Liz McKenna, Thomas P. Bever, James D. Plants (Basel) Article Although several studies have shown increased native plant establishment with native microbe soil amendments, few studies have investigated how microbes can alter seedling recruitment and establishment in the presence of a non-native competitor. In this study, the effect of microbial communities on seedling biomass and diversity was assessed by seeding pots with both native prairie seeds and a non-native grass that commonly invades US grassland restorations, Setaria faberi. Soil in the pots was inoculated with whole soil collections from ex-arable land, late successional arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi isolated from a nearby tallgrass prairie, with both prairie AM fungi and ex-arable whole soil, or with a sterile soil (control). We hypothesized (1) late successional plants would benefit from native AM fungi, (2) that non-native plants would outcompete native plants in ex-arable soils, and (3) early successional plants would be unresponsive to microbes. Overall, native plant abundance, late successional plant abundance, and total diversity were greatest in the native AM fungi+ ex-arable soil treatment. These increases led to decreased abundance of the non-native grass S. faberi. These results highlight the importance of late successional native microbes on native seed establishment and demonstrate that microbes can be harnessed to improve both plant community diversity and resistance to invasion during the nascent stages of restoration. MDPI 2023-03-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10005557/ /pubmed/36904044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12051184 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Koziol, Liz
McKenna, Thomas P.
Bever, James D.
Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title_full Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title_fullStr Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title_full_unstemmed Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title_short Native Microbes Amplify Native Seedling Establishment and Diversity While Inhibiting a Non-Native Grass
title_sort native microbes amplify native seedling establishment and diversity while inhibiting a non-native grass
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36904044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12051184
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