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Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity
Published on: March 13, 2014
Integration of plant-soil feedbacks with resilience theory for climate change
Jennifer A Rudgers1, Catherine A Gehring2, D Lee Taylor1
1Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA.
Abstract:
The resilience of ecosystems to climate disruption requires internal feedbacks that support the stability of ecosystem structure and function. Such feedbacks may include sustained interactions between plants and soil [plant-soil feedback (PSF)]. Theoretically, PSF could either boost or degrade ecosystem resilience. Three criteria must be met to attribute resilience to PSF: (i) The presence or amount of PSF must be manipulated; (ii) the ecosystem must face climate disruption after PSF is manipulated; and (iii) PSF must alter the resistance or recovery of ecosystem structure or function to disruption. Several case studies suggest that PSF may support (or degrade) resilience, but no study has yet met all criteria. Doing so could yield novel insights into how aboveground-belowground interactions shape ecosystem resilience to climate change.
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