Plant-driven changes in soil microbial communities influence seed germination through negative feedbacks

Area of Science:

• Plant ecology
• Microbial ecology
• Community dynamics

Background:

• Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are crucial for plant community diversity.
• The role of PSFs in the seed stage and associated fungal shifts remains largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how plant-soil feedbacks affect seed germination.
• To characterize fungal community composition in response to plant species.
• To identify fungal pathogens associated with plant-soil feedbacks.

Main Methods:

• Conducted pairwise PSF experiments with seven grassland species.
• Utilized metagenomics to analyze soil fungal community composition.
• Assigned taxonomy to soil fungi and identified putative pathogens.

Main Results:

• Observed negative, positive, and neutral PSFs on seed germination.
• Found host-specialized soil fungal communities, but specialized microbes did not always cause PSFs.
• Identified overlapping host-specialized pathogens among plant species, with variation based on plant partners.

Conclusions:

• PSFs are important at the seed stage, influencing germination.
• Fungal pathogens are not strictly host-specific and vary with plant interactions.
• Complex microbe-mediated interactions shape plant communities across life stages.