Beyond the rootzone: Unveiling soil property and biota gradients around plants.

Although the effects of plants on soil properties are well known, the effects of distance from plant roots to root-free soil on soil properties and associated soil organisms are much less studied. Previous research on the effects of distance from a plant explored specific soil organisms and properties, however, comparative studies across a wide range of plant-associated organisms and multiple model systems are lacking. We conducted a controlled greenhouse experiment using soil from two contrasting habitats.

The role of plant-soil feedback in long-term species coexistence cannot be predicted from its effects on plant performance.

Background: Despite many studies on the importance of competition and plants' associations with mutualists and pathogens on plant performance and community organization, the joint effects of these two factors remain largely unexplored. Even less is known about how these joint effects vary through a plant's life in different environmental conditions and how they contribute to the long-term coexistence of species.

Methods: We investigated the role of plant-soil feedback (PSF) in intra- and interspecific competition, using two co-occurring dry grassland species as models.

Pre- and postzygotic mechanisms preventing hybridization in co-occurring species of the complex.

In the species-rich genus , few natural hybrids are known, even though closely related species often occur sympatrically. In this study, we aim to bridge the gap between micro- and macro-evolution to disentangle pre- and postzygotic mechanisms that may prevent hybridization in the complex from Central Africa. We analyzed habitat types, species distribution, pollination syndromes, pollinator dependency, genome sizes, and chromosome numbers of seven out of the ten species of the complex as well as of one natural hybrid and reconstructed the ancestral chromosome numbers of the complex.

Plant palatability and trait responses to experimental warming.

Climate warming is expected to significantly affect plant-herbivore interactions. Even though direct effects of temperature on herbivores were extensively studied, indirect effects of temperature (acting via changes in host plant quality) on herbivore performance have rarely been addressed. We conducted multiple-choice feeding experiments with generalist herbivore Schistocerca gregaria feeding on six species of genus Impatiens cultivated at three different temperatures in growth chambers and a common garden.

Plant Origin, but Not Phylogeny, Drive Species Ecophysiological Response to Projected Climate.

Knowledge of the relationship between environmental conditions and species traits is an important prerequisite for understanding determinants of community composition and predicting species response to novel climatic conditions. Despite increasing number of studies on this topic, our knowledge on importance of genetic differentiation, plasticity and their interactions along larger sets of species is still limited especially for traits related to plant ecophysiology. We studied variation in traits related to growth, leaf chemistry, contents of photosynthetic pigments and activity of antioxidative enzymes, stomata morphology and photosynthetic activity across eight species growing along altitudinal gradients in Himalayas cultivated in three different temperature regimes and explored effects of among species phylogenetic relationships on the results.

Altitude, habitat type and herbivore damage interact in their effects on plant population dynamics.

Insects represent one of the most abundant groups of herbivores, and many of them have significant impacts on the dynamics of plant populations. As insects are very sensitive to changes in climatic conditions, we hypothesize that their effects on plant population dynamics will depend on climatic conditions. Knowledge of the variation in herbivore effects on plant population dynamics is, however, still rather sparse.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and associated microbial communities from dry grassland do not improve plant growth on abandoned field soil.

After abandonment of agricultural fields, some grassland plant species colonize these sites with a frequency equivalent to dry grasslands (generalists) while others are missing or underrepresented in abandoned fields (specialists). We aimed to understand the inability of specialists to spread on abandoned fields by exploring whether performance of generalists and specialists depended on soil abiotic and/or biotic legacy. We performed a greenhouse experiment with 12 species, six specialists and six generalists.

Duration of the conditioning phase affects the results of plant-soil feedback experiments via soil chemical properties.

Plant-soil feedback (PSF) is a fundamental mechanism explaining plant community composition. Two-phase experiments, i.e.

Evolutionary responses to climate change in a range expanding plant.

To understand the biological effects of climate change, it is essential to take into account species' evolutionary responses to their changing environments. Ongoing climate change is resulting in species shifting their geographical distribution ranges poleward. We tested whether a successful range expanding plant has rapidly adapted to the regional conditions in its novel range, and whether adaptation could be driven by herbivores.

Trade-off among different anti-herbivore defence strategies along an altitudinal gradient.

The type and intensity of plant-herbivore interactions are likely to be altered under climate change as a consequence of differential dispersal rates of plants and their herbivores. Here, we studied variation in herbivore damage on Salvia nubicola in the field and compared its growth and defence strategies against herbivores in controlled conditions using seeds from populations along a broad altitudinal gradient. Our work is one of the first studies to simultaneously measure complex intraspecific variation in plant growth, direct and indirect defences as well as plant tolerance (ability to regrow) as a consequence of herbivore attack simulated by clipping.

The effect of AMF suppression on plant species composition in a nutrient-poor dry grassland.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are expected to be one of the key drivers determining the diversity of natural plant communities, especially in nutrient-poor and dry habitats. Several previous studies have explored the importance of AMF for the composition of plant communities in various types of habitats. Surprisingly, studies of the role of AMF in nutrient-poor dry grassland communities dominated by less mycotrophic plant species are still relatively rare.