title: Tree species, tree genotypes and tree genotypic diversity levels affect microbe-mediated soil ecosystem functions in a subtropical forest.
abstract: Tree species identity and tree genotypes contribute to the shaping of soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about how these two factors influence soil ecosystem functions is still lacking. Furthermore, in forest ecosystems tree genotypes co-occur and interact with each other, thus the effects of tree genotypic diversity on soil ecosystem functions merit attention. Here we investigated the effects of tree species, tree genotypes and genotypic diversity levels, alongside soil physicochemical properties, on the overall and specific soil enzyme activity patterns. Our results indicate that tree species identity, tree genotypes and genotypic diversity level have significant influences on overall and specific soil enzyme activity patterns. These three factors influence soil enzyme patterns partly through effects on soil physicochemical properties and substrate quality. Variance partitioning showed that tree species identity, genotypic diversity level, pH and water content all together explained ~30% variations in the overall patterns of soil enzymes. However, we also found that the responses of soil ecosystem functions to tree genotypes and genotypic diversity are complex, being dependent on tree species identity and controlled by multiple factors. Our study highlights the important of inter- and intra-specific variations in tree species in shaping soil ecosystem functions in a subtropical forest.
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Witoon
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Purahong
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Community Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Durka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dommert
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schöps
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buscot
authors.affiliation: UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Tesfaye
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wubet
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics*