Globally consistent response of plant microbiome diversity across hosts and continents to soil nutrients and herbivores

Eric W. Seabloom (), Maria C. Caldeira, Kendi F. Davies, Linda Kinkel, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Andrew S. MacDougall, Georgiana May, Michael Millican, Joslin L. Moore, Luis I. Perez, Anita J. Porath-Krause, Sally A. Power, Suzanne M. Prober, Anita C. Risch, Carly Stevens and Elizabeth T. Borer
Additional contact information
Eric W. Seabloom: University of Minnesota
Maria C. Caldeira: University of Lisbon
Kendi F. Davies: University of Colorado
Linda Kinkel: University of Minnesota
Johannes M. H. Knops: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Kimberly J. Komatsu: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Andrew S. MacDougall: University of Guelph
Georgiana May: University of Minnesota
Michael Millican: University of Minnesota
Joslin L. Moore: Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research
Luis I. Perez: Catedra ´ de Ecología
Anita J. Porath-Krause: University of Minnesota
Sally A. Power: Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Suzanne M. Prober: CSIRO Environment
Anita C. Risch: Snow and Landscape Research
Carly Stevens: Lancaster University
Elizabeth T. Borer: University of Minnesota

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract All multicellular organisms host a diverse microbiome composed of microbial pathogens, mutualists, and commensals, and changes in microbiome diversity or composition can alter host fitness and function. Nonetheless, we lack a general understanding of the drivers of microbiome diversity, in part because it is regulated by concurrent processes spanning scales from global to local. Global-scale environmental gradients can determine variation in microbiome diversity among sites, however an individual host’s microbiome also may reflect its local micro-environment. We fill this knowledge gap by experimentally manipulating two potential mediators of plant microbiome diversity (soil nutrient supply and herbivore density) at 23 grassland sites spanning global-scale gradients in soil nutrients, climate, and plant biomass. Here we show that leaf-scale microbiome diversity in unmanipulated plots depended on the total microbiome diversity at each site, which was highest at sites with high soil nutrients and plant biomass. We also found that experimentally adding soil nutrients and excluding herbivores produced concordant results across sites, increasing microbiome diversity by increasing plant biomass, which created a shaded microclimate. This demonstration of consistent responses of microbiome diversity across a wide range of host species and environmental conditions suggests the possibility of a general, predictive understanding of microbiome diversity.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39179-w

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