Fungal diversity increases soil fungistasis and resistance to microbial invasion by a non resident species

• Published in: Biological control 2014-05, Vol.72, p.38-45
• Main Authors: Bonanomi, Giuliano, Capodilupo, Manuela, Incerti, Guido, Gaglione, Salvatore A., Scala, Felice
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biodiversity ecosystem function (BEF); Biological and medical sciences; Biological control; Decomposition; Disease suppression; Ecosystem stability; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Microbial diversity; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Sampling effect; Synecology; Varietal selection. Specialized plant breeding, plant breeding aims
• ISSN: 1049-9644; 1090-2112
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2014.02.005

[Display omitted] •Fungal diversity affects soil fungistasis and bacterial invasion?•Microcosms were assembled with fungal diversity ranging from 1 to 8 species.•Soil fungistasis was inversely related to initial microcosm diversity.•Bacteria capability to invade soil and rhizosphere decreased with microcosm diversity.•Loss of fungal microbial diversity may adversely affect ecosystem functionality. Biodiversity decline is a major concern for ecosystem functioning. Recent research efforts have been mostly focused on terrestrial plants, while, despite their importance in both natural and artificial ecosystems, little is known about soil microbial communities. This work aims at investigating the effects of fungal species richness on soil invasion by non resident microbes. Synthetic fungal communities with a species diversity ranging from 1 to 8 were assembled in laboratory microcosms and used in three factorial experiments to assess the effect of diversity on soil fungistasis, microbial invasion of soil amended with plant litter and of plant rhizosphere. The capability of different microbes to colonize environments characterized by different resident microbial communities was measured. The number of microbial species in the microcosms positively affected soil fungistasis that was also induced more rapidly in presence of synthetic communities with more species. Moreover, the increase of resident fungal diversity dramatically reduced the invasibility of both soil and plant rhizosphere. We found lower variability of soil fungistasis and invasibility in microcosms with higher species richness of microbial communities. Our study pointed out the existence of negative relationships between fungal diversity and soil invasibility by non resident microbes. Therefore, the loss of microbial species may adversely affect ecosystem functionality under specific environmental conditions.