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Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis

In theory, changes in the amount of rainfall can change plant biomass allocation and subsequently influence coupled plant-soil microbial processes. However, testing patterns of combined responses of plants and soils remains a knowledge gap for terrestrial ecosystems. We carried out a comprehensive r...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Chunhui, Xi, Nianxun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7947227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33719286
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.614968
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author Zhang, Chunhui
Xi, Nianxun
author_facet Zhang, Chunhui
Xi, Nianxun
author_sort Zhang, Chunhui
collection PubMed
description In theory, changes in the amount of rainfall can change plant biomass allocation and subsequently influence coupled plant-soil microbial processes. However, testing patterns of combined responses of plants and soils remains a knowledge gap for terrestrial ecosystems. We carried out a comprehensive review of the available literature and conducted a meta-analysis to explore combined plant and soil microbial responses in grasslands exposed to experimental precipitation changes. We measured the effects of experimental precipitation changes on plant biomass, biomass allocation, and soil microbial biomass and tested for trade-offs between plant and soil responses to altered precipitation. We found that aboveground and belowground plant biomass responded asynchronically to precipitation changes, thereby leading to shifts in plant biomass allocation. Belowground plant biomass did not change under precipitation changes, but aboveground plant biomass decreased in precipitation reduction and increased in precipitation addition. There was a trade-off between responses of aboveground plant biomass and belowground plant biomass to precipitation reduction, but correlation wasn't found for precipitation addition. Microbial biomass carbon (C) did not change under the treatments of precipitation reduction. Increased root allocation may buffer drought stress for soil microbes through root exudations and neutralize microbial responses to precipitation reduction. However, precipitation addition increased microbial biomass C, potentially reflecting the removal of water limitation for soil microbial growth. We found that there were positive correlations between responses of aboveground plant biomass and microbial biomass C to precipitation addition, indicating that increased shoot growth probably promoted microbial responses via litter inputs. In sum, our study suggested that aboveground, belowground plant biomass and soil microbial biomass can respond asynchronically to precipitation changes, and emphasizes that testing the plant-soil system as a whole is necessary for forecasting the effects of precipitation changes on grassland systems.
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spelling pubmed-79472272021-03-12 Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis Zhang, Chunhui Xi, Nianxun Front Plant Sci Plant Science In theory, changes in the amount of rainfall can change plant biomass allocation and subsequently influence coupled plant-soil microbial processes. However, testing patterns of combined responses of plants and soils remains a knowledge gap for terrestrial ecosystems. We carried out a comprehensive review of the available literature and conducted a meta-analysis to explore combined plant and soil microbial responses in grasslands exposed to experimental precipitation changes. We measured the effects of experimental precipitation changes on plant biomass, biomass allocation, and soil microbial biomass and tested for trade-offs between plant and soil responses to altered precipitation. We found that aboveground and belowground plant biomass responded asynchronically to precipitation changes, thereby leading to shifts in plant biomass allocation. Belowground plant biomass did not change under precipitation changes, but aboveground plant biomass decreased in precipitation reduction and increased in precipitation addition. There was a trade-off between responses of aboveground plant biomass and belowground plant biomass to precipitation reduction, but correlation wasn't found for precipitation addition. Microbial biomass carbon (C) did not change under the treatments of precipitation reduction. Increased root allocation may buffer drought stress for soil microbes through root exudations and neutralize microbial responses to precipitation reduction. However, precipitation addition increased microbial biomass C, potentially reflecting the removal of water limitation for soil microbial growth. We found that there were positive correlations between responses of aboveground plant biomass and microbial biomass C to precipitation addition, indicating that increased shoot growth probably promoted microbial responses via litter inputs. In sum, our study suggested that aboveground, belowground plant biomass and soil microbial biomass can respond asynchronically to precipitation changes, and emphasizes that testing the plant-soil system as a whole is necessary for forecasting the effects of precipitation changes on grassland systems. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7947227/ /pubmed/33719286 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.614968 Text en Copyright © 2021 Zhang and Xi. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Zhang, Chunhui
Xi, Nianxun
Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title_full Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title_fullStr Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title_short Precipitation Changes Regulate Plant and Soil Microbial Biomass Via Plasticity in Plant Biomass Allocation in Grasslands: A Meta-Analysis
title_sort precipitation changes regulate plant and soil microbial biomass via plasticity in plant biomass allocation in grasslands: a meta-analysis
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7947227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33719286
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.614968
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