relative importance of biotic and abiotic soil components to plant growth and insect herbivore population dynamics相对重要性的生物和非生物土壤成分对植物生长和食草昆虫种群动态.pdfVIP

Relative Importance of Biotic and Abiotic Soil Components to Plant Growth and Insect Herbivore Population Dynamics ˜ Martijn L. Vandegehuchte*, Eduardo de la Pena, Dries Bonte Department Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Abstract Background: Plants are affected by several aspects of the soil, which have the potential to exert cascading effects on the performance of herbivorous insects. The effects of biotic and abiotic soil characteristics have however mostly been investigated in isolation, leaving their relative importance largely unexplored. Such is the case for the dune grass Ammophila, whose decline under decreasing sand accretion is argued to be caused by either biotic or abiotic soil properties. Methodology/Principal Findings: By manipulating dune soils from three different regions, we decoupled the contributions of region, the abiotic and biotic soil component to the variation in characteristics of Ammophila arenaria seedlings and Schizaphis rufula aphid populations. Root mass fraction and total dry biomass of plants were affected by soil biota, although the latter effect was not consistent across regions. None of the measured plant properties were significantly affected by the abiotic soil component. Aphid population characteristics all differed between regions, irrespective of whether soil biota were present or absent. Hence these effects were due to differences in abiotic soil properties between regions. Although several chemical properties of the soil mixtures were measured, none of these were consistent with results for plant or aphid traits. Conclusions/Significance: Plants were affected more strongly by soil biota than by abiotic soil pr