The Role of Plant-soil Feedbacks in Climate Change-Induced Range Expansion
Date
2018-01-10
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Abstract
Climate change-induced range shift often results in novel interactions between species that did not previously exist in the same environment. Differences in dispersal rates among species can cause asynchronous migration that benefits species expanding their range if they escape from specialist enemies from their home range. In plants, specialist, soil-borne enemies build up in areas inhabited by conspecifics, ultimately reducing conspecific success. By out-dispersing these soil enemies during range shifts, plants may experience enemy release. I grew three high elevation, perennial forbs in soil containing soil biota from the rhizosphere of either conspecifics or potential future competitors from beyond the upper range limit of the focal species to determine whether the change in soil-microbial community affects plant success. Aboveground competition has been shown to modulate the responses of plants to soil microbes, so I also examined whether the presence of interspecific competition with the potential future competitors impacted response to soil biota. For Erigeron glacialis and Antennaria lanata, neither growth nor survival differed between soil containing conspecific versus heterospecific microbes. In contrast, Penstemon procerus had higher survival with heterospecific soil microbes. Interspecific competition had no effect on growth for any of the species, and did not alter responses to soil biota. The results suggest that E. glacialis and A. lanata will not experience enemy release, even if they out-disperse their associated soil microbes. Penstemon procerus may benefit from escaping soil-borne enemies in conspecific soil biota.
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Morgante, R. (2018). The Role of Plant-soil Feedbacks in Climate Change-Induced Range Expansion (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.