title: Contribution of above- and below-ground plant traits to the structure and function of grassland soil microbial communities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Abiotic properties of soil are known to be major drivers of the microbial community within it. Our understanding of how soil microbial properties are related to the functional structure and diversity of plant communities, however, is limited and largely restricted to above-ground plant traits, with the role of below-ground traits being poorly understood. This study investigated the relative contributions of soil abiotic properties and plant traits, both above-ground and below-ground, to variations in microbial processes involved in grassland nitrogen turnover.
  
  
  METHODS
  In mountain grasslands distributed across three European sites, a correlative approach was used to examine the role of a large range of plant functional traits and soil abiotic factors on microbial variables, including gene abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers and their potential activities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Direct effects of soil abiotic parameters were found to have the most significant influence on the microbial groups investigated. Indirect pathways via plant functional traits contributed substantially to explaining the relative abundance of fungi and bacteria and gene abundances of the investigated microbial communities, while they explained little of the variance in microbial activities. Gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers were most strongly related to below-ground plant traits, suggesting that they were the most relevant traits for explaining variation in community structure and abundances of soil microbes involved in nitrification and denitrification.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that consideration of plant traits, and especially below-ground traits, increases our ability to describe variation in the abundances and the functional characteristics of microbial communities in grassland soils.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France nicolas.legay@gmx.com.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Legay
authors.affiliation: Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baxendale
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France Station Alpine Joseph Fourier, UMS 3370 CNRS - Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 2233 Rue de la Piscine, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grigulis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Krainer
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Environmental Genomics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH), Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kastl
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Environmental Genomics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH), Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schloter
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK and.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Bardgett
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arnoldi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bahn
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne, Université Lyon1, Université de Lyon, 15 USC INRA 1364, UMR CNRS 5557, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne, Université Lyon1, Université de Lyon, 15 USC INRA 1364, UMR CNRS 5557, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poly
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne, Université Lyon1, Université de Lyon, 15 USC INRA 1364, UMR CNRS 5557, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pommier
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Clément
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lavorel
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D044822:Biodiversity; D058440:Denitrification; D017753:Ecosystem; D065948:Grassland; D058465:Nitrification; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010641:Phenotype; D035261:Plant Components, Aerial / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Ammonia-oxidizing archaea; bacteria; denitrifiers; leaf traits; nitrite oxidizers; nitrite reducers; nutrient availability; plant functional traits; root traits; soil microbial community