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Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales

Soil heterogeneity (uneven distribution of soil nutrients and/or other properties) is ubiquitous in nature and can greatly affect plant growth. As earthworm activity can influence nutrient redistribution in the soil, we hypothesize that earthworms may alter the effect of soil heterogeneity on plant...

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Autores principales: Adomako, Michael Opoku, Xue, Wei, Roiloa, Sergio, Zhang, Qian, Du, Dao-Lin, Yu, Fei-Hai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8732864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003149
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.735495
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author Adomako, Michael Opoku
Xue, Wei
Roiloa, Sergio
Zhang, Qian
Du, Dao-Lin
Yu, Fei-Hai
author_facet Adomako, Michael Opoku
Xue, Wei
Roiloa, Sergio
Zhang, Qian
Du, Dao-Lin
Yu, Fei-Hai
author_sort Adomako, Michael Opoku
collection PubMed
description Soil heterogeneity (uneven distribution of soil nutrients and/or other properties) is ubiquitous in nature and can greatly affect plant growth. As earthworm activity can influence nutrient redistribution in the soil, we hypothesize that earthworms may alter the effect of soil heterogeneity on plant growth and this effect may depend on the scale of soil heterogeneity. To test these hypotheses, we grew the clonal grass Leymus chinensis in three soil treatments (heterogeneous large vs. heterogeneous small patch vs. homogeneous soil treatment) with or without earthworms [i.e., Eisenia fetida Savigny (Lumbricidae, epigeic redworm)]. In the heterogeneous treatments, the soil consisted of patches with and without (15)N-labeled litter (referred to as high- and low-quality patches, respectively), and in the homogeneous treatment, the soil was an even mixture of the two types of soil patches. Biomass of L. chinensis was significantly higher in the high- than in the low-quality patches, showing the foraging response; this foraging response occurred at both scales and under both earthworm treatments. Compared to the homogeneous treatment, the heterogeneous large patch treatment increased biomass of L. chinensis without earthworms, but decreased it with earthworms. In contrast, biomass of L. chinensis in the heterogeneous small patch treatment did not differ from that in the homogeneous treatment, irrespective of earthworms. Belowground biomass was much greater in the heterogeneous small than in the heterogeneous large patch treatment without earthworms, but it did not differ between these two scale treatments with earthworms. In the heterogeneous treatments, soil (15)N was greater in the high- than in the low-quality patches, but this effect became much weaker with than without earthworms, suggesting that earthworm activity homogenized the soil. We conclude that earthworms can change the impact of soil heterogeneity on plant growth via homogenizing the soil, and that this effect of earthworms varies with patch scale. Such scale-dependent interactive effects of soil heterogeneity and earthworms could be a potential mechanism modulating plant community structure and productivity.
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spelling pubmed-87328642022-01-07 Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales Adomako, Michael Opoku Xue, Wei Roiloa, Sergio Zhang, Qian Du, Dao-Lin Yu, Fei-Hai Front Plant Sci Plant Science Soil heterogeneity (uneven distribution of soil nutrients and/or other properties) is ubiquitous in nature and can greatly affect plant growth. As earthworm activity can influence nutrient redistribution in the soil, we hypothesize that earthworms may alter the effect of soil heterogeneity on plant growth and this effect may depend on the scale of soil heterogeneity. To test these hypotheses, we grew the clonal grass Leymus chinensis in three soil treatments (heterogeneous large vs. heterogeneous small patch vs. homogeneous soil treatment) with or without earthworms [i.e., Eisenia fetida Savigny (Lumbricidae, epigeic redworm)]. In the heterogeneous treatments, the soil consisted of patches with and without (15)N-labeled litter (referred to as high- and low-quality patches, respectively), and in the homogeneous treatment, the soil was an even mixture of the two types of soil patches. Biomass of L. chinensis was significantly higher in the high- than in the low-quality patches, showing the foraging response; this foraging response occurred at both scales and under both earthworm treatments. Compared to the homogeneous treatment, the heterogeneous large patch treatment increased biomass of L. chinensis without earthworms, but decreased it with earthworms. In contrast, biomass of L. chinensis in the heterogeneous small patch treatment did not differ from that in the homogeneous treatment, irrespective of earthworms. Belowground biomass was much greater in the heterogeneous small than in the heterogeneous large patch treatment without earthworms, but it did not differ between these two scale treatments with earthworms. In the heterogeneous treatments, soil (15)N was greater in the high- than in the low-quality patches, but this effect became much weaker with than without earthworms, suggesting that earthworm activity homogenized the soil. We conclude that earthworms can change the impact of soil heterogeneity on plant growth via homogenizing the soil, and that this effect of earthworms varies with patch scale. Such scale-dependent interactive effects of soil heterogeneity and earthworms could be a potential mechanism modulating plant community structure and productivity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8732864/ /pubmed/35003149 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.735495 Text en Copyright © 2021 Adomako, Xue, Roiloa, Zhang, Du and Yu. https://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
Adomako, Michael Opoku
Xue, Wei
Roiloa, Sergio
Zhang, Qian
Du, Dao-Lin
Yu, Fei-Hai
Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title_full Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title_fullStr Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title_full_unstemmed Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title_short Earthworms Modulate Impacts of Soil Heterogeneity on Plant Growth at Different Spatial Scales
title_sort earthworms modulate impacts of soil heterogeneity on plant growth at different spatial scales
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8732864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003149
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.735495
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