title: Abiotic drivers and plant traits explain landscape-scale patterns in soil microbial communities.
abstract: The controls on aboveground community composition and diversity have been extensively studied, but our understanding of the drivers of belowground microbial communities is relatively lacking, despite their importance for ecosystem functioning. In this study, we fitted statistical models to explain landscape-scale variation in soil microbial community composition using data from 180 sites covering a broad range of grassland types, soil and climatic conditions in England. We found that variation in soil microbial communities was explained by abiotic factors like climate, pH and soil properties. Biotic factors, namely community-weighted means (CWM) of plant functional traits, also explained variation in soil microbial communities. In particular, more bacterial-dominated microbial communities were associated with exploitative plant traits versus fungal-dominated communities with resource-conservative traits, showing that plant functional traits and soil microbial communities are closely related at the landscape scale.
authors.affiliation: Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: Franciska T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.affiliation: School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NE1 7RU, UK.
authors.forename: Pete
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manning
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK.
authors.forename: Jerry R B
authors.initials: JRB
authors.lastname: Tallowin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK.
authors.forename: Simon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mortimer
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK.
authors.forename: Emma S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Pilgrim
authors.affiliation: Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK.
authors.forename: Phil J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hobbs
authors.affiliation: Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Quirk
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, (Qc), J1K 2R9, Canada.
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shipley
authors.affiliation: Systems Ecology, Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johannes H C
authors.initials: JHC
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kattge
authors.affiliation: Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Bardgett
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D004739:England; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D015233:Models, Statistical; D006109:Poaceae / Q000254:growth & development; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil