Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A new tool of the trade: plant-trait based approaches in microbial ecology

  • Commentary
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

The Original Article was published on 27 July 2012

The Original Article was published on 04 February 2012

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agerer R (2001) Exploration types of ectomycorrhizae. Mycorrhiza 11:107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison SD (2012) A trait-based approach for modelling microbial litter decomposition. Ecol Lett 15:1058–1070

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho S, Macel M, Schlerf M, Skidmore AK, van der Putten WH (2012) Soil biotic impact on plant species shoot chemistry and hyperspectral reflectance patterns. New Phytologist 196:1133–1144

  • Castro-Díez P (2012) Functional traits analyses: scaling-up from species to community level. Plant Soil 357:9–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell WK, Ackerly DD (2009) Community assembly and shifts in plant trait distributions across an environmental gradient in coastal California. Ecol Monogr 79:109–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Vries FT, Manning P, Tallowin JRB, Mortimer SR, Pilgrim ES, Harrison KA, Hobbs PJ, Quirk H, Shipley B, Cornelissen JHC, Kattge J, Bardgett RD (2012) Abiotic drivers and plant traits explain landscape-scale patterns in soil microbial communities. Ecol Lett 15:1230–1239

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Díaz S, Lavorel S, de Bello F, Quétier F, Grigulis K, Robson TM (2007) Incorporating plant functional diversity effects in ecosystem service assessments. Proc Nat Acad Sci U S A 104:20684–20689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fester T, Fetzer I, Buchert S, Lucas R, Rillig MC, Härtig C (2011) Towards a systemic metabolic signature of the arbuscular mycorrhizal interaction. Oecologia 167:913–924

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert JA, Field D, Swift P, Newbold L, Oliver A, Smyth T, Somerfield PJ, Huse S, Joint I (2009) The seasonal structure of microbial communities in the Western English Channel. Environ Microbiol 11:3132–3139

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hector A, Bagchi R (2007) Biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Nature 448:188–190

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson JG, Montserrat-Martí G, Charles M, Jones G, Wilson P, Shipley B, Sharafi M, Cerabolini BEL, Cornelissen JHC, Band SR, Bogard A, Castro-Díez P, Guerrero-Campo J, Palmer C, Pérez-Rontomé MC, Carter G, Hynd A, Romo-Díez A, de Torres Espuny L, Royo Pla F (2011) Is leaf dry matter content a better predictor of soil fertility than specific leaf area? Ann Bot 108:1337–1345

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kraft NJB, Valencia R, Ackerly DD (2008) Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest. Science 322:580–582

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lavorel S, Grigulis K, Lamarque P, Colace M-P, Garden D, Girel J, Pellet G, Douzet R (2011) Using plant functional traits to understand the landscape distribution of multiple ecosystem services. J Ecol 99:135–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindahl B, Ihrmark K, Boberg J, Trumbore SE, Högberg P, Stenlid J, Finlay RD (2007) Spatial separation of litter decomposition and mycorrhizal nitrogen uptake in a boreal forest. New Phytol 173:611–620

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mackelprang R, Waldrop MP, DeAngelis KM, David MM, Chavarria KL, Blazewicz SJ, Rubin EM, Jansson JK (2011) Metagenomic analysis of a permafrost microbial community reveals a rapid response to thaw. Nature 480:368–371

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maestre FT, Quero JL, Gotelli NJ, Escudero A, Ochoa V, Delgado-Baquerizo M, García-Gómez M, Bowker MA, Soliveres S, Escolar C, García-Palacios P, Berdugo M, Valencia E, Gozalo B, Gallardo A, Aguilera L, Arredondo T, Blones J, Boeken B, Bran D, Conceição AA, Cabrera O, Chaieb M, Derak M, Eldridge DJ, Espinosa CI, Florentino A, Gaitán J, Gatica MG, Ghiloufi W, Gómez-González S, Gutiérrez JR, Hernández RM, Huang X, Huber-Sannwald E, Jankju M, Miriti M, Monerris J, Mau RL, Morici E, Naseri K, Ospina A, Polo V, Prina A, Pucheta E, Ramírez-Collantes DA, Romão R, Tighe M, Torres-Díaz C, Val J, Veiga JP, Wang D, Zaady E (2012) Plant species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality in global drylands. Science 335:214–218

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maherali H, Klironomos JN (2007) Influence of phylogeny on fungal community assembly and ecosystem functioning. Science 316:1746–1748

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Öpik M, Metsis M, Daniell TJ, Zobel M, Moora M (2009) Large-scale parallel 454 sequencing reveals host ecological group specificity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a boreonemoral forest. New Phytol 184:424–437

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell JR, Parrent JL, Hart MM, Klironomos JN, Rillig MC, Maherali H (2009) Phylogenetic trait conservatism and the evolution of functional trade-offs in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Proc Roy Soc B 276:4237–4245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prosser JI (2010) Replicate or lie. Environ Microbiol 12:1806–1810

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shipley B (2002) Cause and correlation in biology: a user’s guide to path analysis, structural equations and causal inference. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton-Grier A, Wright JP, Richardson CJ (2013) Different plant traits affect two pathways of riparian nitrogen removal in a restored freshwater wetland. Plant Soil. doi:10.1007/s11104-011-1113-3

  • van der Heijden MGA, Scheublin TR (2007) Functional traits in mycorrhizal ecology: their use for predicting the impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities on plant growth and ecosystem functioning. New Phytol 174:244–250

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van der Heijden MGA, Klironomos JN, Ursic M, Moutoglis P, Streitwolf-Engel R, Boller T, Wiemken A, Sanders IR (1998) Mycorrhizal fungal diversity determines plant biodiversity, ecosystem variability and productivity. Nature 396:69–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright IJ, Reich PB, Westoby M, Ackerly DD, Baruch Z, Bongers F, Cavender-Bares J, Chapin T, Cornelissen JHC, Diemer M, Flexas J, Garnier E, Groom PK, Gulias J, Hikosaka K, Lamont BB, Lee T, Lee W, Lusk C, Midgley JJ, Navas M-L, Niinemets Ü, Oleksyn J, Osada N, Poorter H, Poot P, Prior L, Pyankov VI, Roumet C, Thomas SC, Tjoelker MG, Veneklaas EJ, Villar R (2004) The worldwide leaf economics spectrum. Nature 428:821–827

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Z, Powell JR, Zhang C, Du G (2012) The effect of environmental and phylogenetic drivers on community assembly in an alpine meadow community. Ecology 93:2321–2328

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zancarini A, Mougel C, Voisin A-S, Prudent M, Salon C, Munier-Jolain (2012) Soil nitrogen availability and plant genotype modify the nutrition strategies of M. truncatula and the associated rhizosphere microbial communities. PLoS One 7:e47096

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zancarini A, Mougel C, Terrat S, Salon C, Munier-Jolain (2013) Combining ecophysiological and microbial ecological approaches to study the relationship between Medicago truncatula genotypes and their associated rhizosphere bacterial communities. Plant Soil. doi:10.1007/s11104-012-1364-7

  • Zavaleta ES, Pasari JR, Hulvey KB, Tilman GD (2010) Sustaining multiple ecosystem functions in grassland communities requires higher biodiversity. Proc Nat Acad Sci U S A 107:1443–1446

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Two reviewers provided helpful suggestions that improved the manuscript. ICA acknowledges funding for a collaboration fellowship from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We thank the authors of the two papers that formed the basis for this commentary for stimulating the ideas and Żubrówka for facilitating the discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Richmond, NSW, Australia

    Jeff R. Powell & Ian C. Anderson

  2. Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias C. Rillig

Authors
  1. Jeff R. Powell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ian C. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthias C. Rillig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeff R. Powell.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Juha Mikola.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Powell, J.R., Anderson, I.C. & Rillig, M.C. A new tool of the trade: plant-trait based approaches in microbial ecology. Plant Soil 365, 35–40 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1581-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1581-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation