@article{HeinzeBergmannRilligetal.2015,
  author    = {Heinze, Johannes and Bergmann, Joana and Rillig, Matthias C. and Joshi, Jasmin Radha},
  title     = {Negative biotic soil-effects enhance biodiversity by restricting potentially dominant plant species in grasslands},
  series = {Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics},
  volume    = {17},
  journal   = {Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Jena},
  issn      = {1433-8319},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.ppees.2015.03.002},
  pages     = {227 -- 235},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Interactions between soil microorganisms and plants can play a vital role for plant fitness and therefore also for plant community composition and biodiversity. However, little is known about how biotic plant soil interactions influence the local dominance and abundance of plant species and whether specific taxonomic or functional groups of plants are differentially affected by such biotic soil-effects. In two greenhouse experiments, we tested the biotic soil-effects of 33 grassland species differing in individual size and local abundance. We hypothesized that large plants that are not locally dominant (despite their size-related competitive advantage enabling them to potentially outshade competitors) are most strongly limited by negative biotic soil-effects. We sampled soils at the opposite ends of a gradient in land-use intensity in temperate grasslands to account for putative modulating effects of land-use intensity on biotic soil-effects. As hypothesized, large, but non-dominant species (especially grasses) experienced more negative biotic soil-effects compared with small and abundant plant species. Land-use intensity had contrasting effects on grasses and herbs resulting in more negative biotic soil-effects for grasses in less intensively managed grasslands. We conclude that biotic soil-effects contribute to the control of potentially dominant plants and hence enable species coexistence and biodiversity especially in species-rich less intensively managed grasslands.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HeinzeWernerWeberetal.2015,
  author    = {Heinze, Johannes and Werner, Tony and Weber, Ewald and Rillig, Matthias C. and Joshi, Jasmin Radha},
  title     = {Soil biota effects on local abundances of three grass species along a land-use gradient},
  series = {Oecologia},
  volume    = {179},
  journal   = {Oecologia},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0029-8549},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00442-015-3336-0},
  pages     = {249 -- 259},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Biotic plant-soil interactions and land-use intensity are known to affect plant individual fitness as well as competitiveness and therefore plant-species abundances in communities. Therefore, a link between soil biota and land-use intensity on local abundance of plant species in grasslands can be expected. In two greenhouse experiments, we investigated the effects of soil biota from grassland sites differing in land-use intensity on three grass species that vary in local abundances along this land-use gradient. We were interested in those soil-biota effects that are associated with land-use intensity, and whether these effects act directly or indirectly. Therefore, we grew the three plant species in two separate experiments as single individuals and in mixtures and compared their performance. As single plants, all three grasses showed a similar performance with and without soil biota. In contrast, in mixtures growth of the species in response to the presence or absence of soil biota differed. This resulted in different soil-biota effects that tend to correspond with patterns of species-specific abundances in the field for two of the three species tested. Our results highlight the importance of indirect interactions between plants and soil microorganisms and suggest that combined effects of soil biota and plant-plant interactions are involved in structuring plant communities. In conclusion, our experiments suggest that soil biota may have the potential to alter effects of plant-plant interactions and therefore influence plant-species abundances and diversity in grasslands.},
  language  = {en}
}