Premium
Soil abiotic variables are more important than Salicaceae phylogeny or habitat specialization in determining soil microbial community structure
Author(s) -
Erlandson Sonya,
Wei Xiaojing,
Savage Jessica,
CavenderBares Jeannine,
Peay Kabir
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14576
Subject(s) - abiotic component , biology , ecology , context (archaeology) , salicaceae , guild , microbial ecology , microbial population biology , community structure , soil ecology , community , habitat , soil organic matter , soil biodiversity , soil water , woody plant , bacteria , paleontology , genetics
Predicting the outcome of interspecific interactions is a central goal in ecology. The diverse soil microbes that interact with plants are shaped by different aspects of plant identity, such as phylogenetic history and functional group. Species interactions may also be strongly shaped by abiotic environment, but there is mixed evidence on the relative importance of environment, plant identity and their interactions in shaping soil microbial communities. Using a multifactor, split‐plot field experiment, we tested how hydrologic context, and three facets of Salicaceae plant identity—habitat specialization, phylogenetic distance and species identity—influence soil microbial community structure. Analysis of microbial community sequencing data with generalized dissimilarity models showed that abiotic environment explained up to 25% of variation in community composition of soil bacteria, fungi and archaea, while Salicaceae identity influenced <1% of the variation in community composition of soil microbial taxa. Multivariate linear models indicated that the influence of Salicaceae identity was small, but did contribute to differentiation of soil microbes within treatments. Moreover, results from a microbial niche breadth analysis show that soil microbes in wetlands have more specialized host associations than soil microbes in drier environments—showing that abiotic environment changed how plant identity correlated with soil microbial communities. This study demonstrates the predominance of major abiotic factors in shaping soil microbial community structure; the significance of abiotic context to biotic influence on soil microbes; and the utility of field experiments to disentangling the abiotic and biotic factors that are thought to be most essential for soil microbial communities.