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Reciprocal interactions between plants and soil in an upland grassland

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Through the production of litter, plants with different life history strategies are predicted to both affect and be affected by the properties of soil. Competitive species are expected to increase the fertility of, and have a positive growth feedback with, soil, whereas stress-tolerant species should decrease fertility but show no growth feedback. We maintained monocultures of competitive (Lolium perenne and Agrostis capillaris) and stress-tolerant (Festuca ovina and Nardus stricta) grasses on an unproductive grassland for six years. The Nardus soil developed significantly greater inorganic nitrogen than the Agrostis and Festuca soil, and significantly greater soil moisture content than the Festuca soil. However, there were no differences in organic matter content, phosphate or bulk density between the soil types. In a greenhouse assay, each species was grown in soil cores from the different monocultures as well as natural turf. There were significant differences in growth between plant species and soil types. As expected, L. perenne produced the greatest amount of biomass. However, plants grown on Nardus soil were twice as large and had a 21% lower root allocation than plants grown on any of the other soil types. Lolium perenne, A. capillaris and F. ovina had significant negative growth feedbacks with their own soil (−0.460, −0.821 and −0.792, respectively) and N. stricta had a significant positive feedback (0.560). This study highlights the difficulties of predicting how plant traits will affect soil properties.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by Research Study Leave and NSERC Discovery grants to JHM. Mike Pikington and Gareth Pheonix helped with the soil analyses. Laura Lazo helped with the lab work. Two anonymous reviewers improved an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botany Department, University of Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    John H. Markham

  2. Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    J. P. Grime & S. Buckland

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  1. John H. Markham
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  2. J. P. Grime
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  3. S. Buckland
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Correspondence to John H. Markham.

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Markham, J.H., Grime, J.P. & Buckland, S. Reciprocal interactions between plants and soil in an upland grassland. Ecol Res 24, 93–98 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0485-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0485-1

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