Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 353-363 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Plant and soil |
| Volume | 334 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Abstract
A positive plant diversity to plant aboveground productivity relation has been shown to alter carbon and nitrogen fluxes in soils. Thus, most investigations focussed on the C- and N-input via litter fall, widely neglecting the importance of root exudation. As microbes, which are known to be important drivers of matter fluxes in soil, feed on these root exudates, increased knowledge on the availability of these compounds in soil might help to understand biodiversity effects on soil. We therefore investigated the effect of plant diversity on size and composition of the free soil amino acid pool in a grassland experiment, as amino acids are an important C- as well as N-source for microbes. Despite a positive diversity effect on plant productivity, we only found an insignificant increase of the size of the free amino acid pool in soil. This was most likely caused by an increase of the microbial population and thus an increased amino acid mineralization. At the same time the composition of the amino acid pool changed significantly between plant diversity levels. This most likely reflects differences in plant input as well as differences in microbial mineralization and enabled us to separate diversity levels by means of discriminant analysis.
Keywords
- Amino acids, Diversity, Fingerprint, Grassland, Plants
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Soil Science
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Plant Science
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In: Plant and soil, Vol. 334, No. 1, 2010, p. 353-363.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Amino acid fingerprint of a grassland soil reflects changes in plant species richness
AU - Sauheitl, Leopold
AU - Glaser, Bruno
AU - Dippold, Michaela
AU - Leiber, Katharina
AU - Weigelt, Alexandra
N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgement We thank the German Research Foundation (GL327/4,4) and the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung for the financial support of this study. The Jena Experiment is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, FOR 456), with additional support from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and the Max Planck Society. We are grateful to the many people involved in the management of the experiment, especially the gardeners and technical staff. Copyright: Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - A positive plant diversity to plant aboveground productivity relation has been shown to alter carbon and nitrogen fluxes in soils. Thus, most investigations focussed on the C- and N-input via litter fall, widely neglecting the importance of root exudation. As microbes, which are known to be important drivers of matter fluxes in soil, feed on these root exudates, increased knowledge on the availability of these compounds in soil might help to understand biodiversity effects on soil. We therefore investigated the effect of plant diversity on size and composition of the free soil amino acid pool in a grassland experiment, as amino acids are an important C- as well as N-source for microbes. Despite a positive diversity effect on plant productivity, we only found an insignificant increase of the size of the free amino acid pool in soil. This was most likely caused by an increase of the microbial population and thus an increased amino acid mineralization. At the same time the composition of the amino acid pool changed significantly between plant diversity levels. This most likely reflects differences in plant input as well as differences in microbial mineralization and enabled us to separate diversity levels by means of discriminant analysis.
AB - A positive plant diversity to plant aboveground productivity relation has been shown to alter carbon and nitrogen fluxes in soils. Thus, most investigations focussed on the C- and N-input via litter fall, widely neglecting the importance of root exudation. As microbes, which are known to be important drivers of matter fluxes in soil, feed on these root exudates, increased knowledge on the availability of these compounds in soil might help to understand biodiversity effects on soil. We therefore investigated the effect of plant diversity on size and composition of the free soil amino acid pool in a grassland experiment, as amino acids are an important C- as well as N-source for microbes. Despite a positive diversity effect on plant productivity, we only found an insignificant increase of the size of the free amino acid pool in soil. This was most likely caused by an increase of the microbial population and thus an increased amino acid mineralization. At the same time the composition of the amino acid pool changed significantly between plant diversity levels. This most likely reflects differences in plant input as well as differences in microbial mineralization and enabled us to separate diversity levels by means of discriminant analysis.
KW - Amino acids
KW - Diversity
KW - Fingerprint
KW - Grassland
KW - Plants
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955818312&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11104-010-0387-1
DO - 10.1007/s11104-010-0387-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77955818312
VL - 334
SP - 353
EP - 363
JO - Plant and soil
JF - Plant and soil
SN - 0032-079X
IS - 1
ER -