Abstract
Competition for nutrients between plants and microbes is an important determinant for plant growth, biodiversity and carbon cycling. Perturbations such as drought affect plant-microbe competition for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Despite the importance of these nutrients in most ecosystems, plant-microbe competition for N and P remains poorly understood. We used a novel dual isotope labelling technique (15N and 32P) to assess plant-microbe competition for N and P affected by drought in two different plant-soil systems. Mesocosms were extracted from a grassland site where plants were strongly limited by N (N-limiting system) and from a grassland site that showed strong soil P adsorption (P-adsorbing system). Half of the mesocosms were subjected to drought one week prior to injection of the tracers. Stable 15N (as KNO3) and radio-labelled 32P (as H3PO4) were injected, and measured in the plant and microbial biomass 72 hrs later. Microbial uptake of 32P was strongly reduced by drought (on average by 89%), while microbial 15N uptake was not. In contrast, drought reduced plant uptake of 15N (by 28%), but not of 32P. Microbial 15N uptake was much larger in the N-limiting system than in the P-adsorbing system (by 491%), while plant 32P uptake was much larger in the P-adsorbing system than in the Nlimiting system (by 703%). Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand. Our results suggest that under drought conditions, plants lose in terms of N uptake, but win in terms of P uptake when competing for these nutrients with microbes. These different sensitivities to drought by plants and microbes may enhance decoupling of the N and P cycle with increased drought conditions, depending on if plants and microbes are N or P limited.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced microbial 32P uptake by 89% on average.
- Taxon
- plantsViridiplantaee1
- Treatment
- droughte0
- Outcome
- Microbial uptake of 32Pe0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 89%e0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Microbial uptake of 32P was strongly reduced by drought (on average by 89%)”
t0“Plant-microbe competition for nitrogen and phosphorous affected by drought”
e1“Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand.”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought did not reduce microbial 15N uptake.
- Taxon
- plantsViridiplantaee1
- Treatment
- droughtt0
- Outcome
- microbial 15N uptakee0
- Direction
- note0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“while microbial 15N uptake was not”
t0“Plant-microbe competition for nitrogen and phosphorous affected by drought”
e1“Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand.”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced plant 15N uptake by 28%.
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“drought reduced plant uptake of 15N (by 28%)”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought did not reduce plant 32P uptake.
- Taxon
- plantsViridiplantaee1
- Treatment
- droughtt0
- Outcome
- 32Pe0
- Direction
- note0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“but not of 32P”
t0“Plant-microbe competition for nitrogen and phosphorous affected by drought”
e1“Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand.”
Claim · model-written summary
Microbial 15N uptake was 491% larger in the N-limiting system than the P-adsorbing system.
Verbatim
e0“Microbial 15N uptake was much larger in the N-limiting system than in the P-adsorbing system (by 491%)”
t0“Plant-microbe competition for nitrogen and phosphorous affected by drought”
e1“Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand.”
Claim · model-written summary
Plant 32P uptake was 703% larger in the P-adsorbing system than the N-limiting system.
Verbatim
e0“plant 32P uptake was much larger in the P-adsorbing system than in the Nlimiting system (by 703%)”
Claim · model-written summary
Plants and microbes took up the nutrient in greatest demand.
- Taxon
- plantsViridiplantaee0
- Interactor
- microbese0other
- Outcome
- largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demande0
Verbatim
e0“Both plants and microbes showed large flexibility in taking up 15N and 32P with the largest uptake of the nutrient that was in greatest demand.”
The same questions in other papers
drought · nutrient: content · Viridiplantae (plants)Results agree
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See all 6 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.