TY - JOUR
T1 - The 'fertile island effect' of Welwitschia plants on soil microbiota is influenced by plant gender
AU - Doniger, Tirza
AU - Adams, Jonathan M.
AU - Marais, Eugene
AU - Maggs-Kölling, Gillian
AU - Sherman, Chen
AU - Kerfahi, Dorsaf
AU - Yang, Ying
AU - Steinberger, Yosef
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/10/28
Y1 - 2020/10/28
N2 - Desert and semi-desert plants are often associated with a distinct soil biota under the plants and close to the root system. We aimed to understand if similar effects could be found in the taxonomically isolated desert gymnosperm Welwitschia mirabilis in the Namib Desert, and whether this island effect varied with climate and with gender of plants. We took soil cores adjacent to the plants in environments ranging from extreme desert to arid shrubland, and in nearby control sites between the plants. Soil chemistry was analysed, and deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted and sequenced for the bacterial 16s region. Soil under the plants was richer in organic C, N and moisture. Despite the range of climates, the soil around Welwitschia plants was consistently associated with a particular bacterial community composition that was distinct from samples further away. Compared to unvegetated control patches, bacterial diversity close to the plants was reduced. In the plant-associated soil community, there was a clear gender effect across all sites with a distinct community composition and greater diversity under male plants. It is unclear what differences in the soil environment might be producing these gender-associated differences, which provide an additional dimension to the fertile island effect.
AB - Desert and semi-desert plants are often associated with a distinct soil biota under the plants and close to the root system. We aimed to understand if similar effects could be found in the taxonomically isolated desert gymnosperm Welwitschia mirabilis in the Namib Desert, and whether this island effect varied with climate and with gender of plants. We took soil cores adjacent to the plants in environments ranging from extreme desert to arid shrubland, and in nearby control sites between the plants. Soil chemistry was analysed, and deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted and sequenced for the bacterial 16s region. Soil under the plants was richer in organic C, N and moisture. Despite the range of climates, the soil around Welwitschia plants was consistently associated with a particular bacterial community composition that was distinct from samples further away. Compared to unvegetated control patches, bacterial diversity close to the plants was reduced. In the plant-associated soil community, there was a clear gender effect across all sites with a distinct community composition and greater diversity under male plants. It is unclear what differences in the soil environment might be producing these gender-associated differences, which provide an additional dimension to the fertile island effect.
KW - Microbial diversity
KW - Namibian desert
KW - Plant gender
KW - Welwitschia mirabilis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094932749&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/femsec/fiaa186
DO - 10.1093/femsec/fiaa186
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
C2 - 32966571
AN - SCOPUS:85094932749
SN - 0168-6496
VL - 96
JO - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
JF - FEMS Microbiology Ecology
IS - 11
M1 - fiaa186
ER -