Interplay between the soil microbiome and tree species richness as well as tree species identity in subtropical forests of China

Applicants Professor Dr. Francois Buscot; Dr. Tesfaye Wubet
Subject Area Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Term from 2008 to 2018
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 35758305
 

Final Report

Final Report Year 2018

Final Report Abstract

Our work resulted in a fruitful collaboration with the Chinese colleagues of the group of Liang Dong Guo as demonstrated by joint publications. The complementarity with this group was high as it focuses on analysing microbes associated to tree roots, while we focuse on soils. In general, our results from the CSPs and the main experimental plots demonstrated that the subtropical forests under investigation are remarkably rich in microbial communities both in soils and dead wood and that these communities responded to forest age, plant identity, plant diversity levels and neighbouring tree species. In the main experiment, final interpretation and publishing of the results have been delayed. However, the investigations have been made during initial stages of the experiment and we expect the microbial community composition in the main experimental sites to change as the plants will grow. In particular, the enhanced production of litter may buffer the diversity and neigborhood effects we detected. This justifies a future continual monitoring of these temporal changes in microbial community composition to unravel the ecological and functional significance of the plant-microbe interactions in the context of the functioning of the highly diverse subtropical forest ecosystems.

Publications

DFG Programme Research Units
Subproject of FOR 891:  The Role of Tree and Shrub Diversity for Production, Erosion Control, Element Cycling and Species Conservation in Chinese Subtropical Forest Ecosystems
International Connection China
Participating Persons Professor Dr. Liang-Dong Guo; Professor Dr. Yu Liang