61. Plant-Soil-Microbe Feedbacks

Organised by José Facelli and Evelina Faceli of University of Adelaide to be held at Network Headquarters, Sydney. First meeting 25-28 February 2009 Second meeting 2-5 February 2010	PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE José Facelli (Leader) - U Adelaide Evelina Facelli - U Adelaide Mark Tibbett - U Western Australia William Stock - Edith Cowan U Ian Dickie - Landcare Research, New Zealand John Klironomos - U British Columbia, Canada Matthias Rillig - Free University of Berlin, Germany Mari Moora - U Tartu, Estonia Jim Bever - Indiana U, USA Martin Zobel - U Tartu, Estonia
Feb 10>

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this Working Group are a) to synthesise the current knowledge and refine the critical questions into testable hypothesis in order to generate research leading to a general model of the effects of the plant-soil microbial components on plant community structure and dynamics, b) to discuss and establish standard protocols to ensure that future experiments yield comparable data, and c) to identify availability of (or need to develop) tools and techniques required to address the main gaps in knowledge.

BACKGROUND
While soil microbial processes have been recognised as an important driver of plant community structure and dynamics for a long time, we are far from having a detailed understanding of the connections between the above ground plant patterns and the underground microbial processes. During the last decade the development of new techniques have contributed to substantial progress in the field, overcoming some of the problems of isolation, identification and quantification of microorganism in the soil. The evidence clearly indicates that there are strong connections but, perhaps not surprisingly, the emerging picture is one of highly complex interactions with multiple feedbacks. This has left ecologists with more questions than answers.

It is becoming clear that just placing soil microbes in broad functional groups (e.g. decomposers, nitrogen fixers, ecto and endo mycorrhizal fungi, pathogens) cannot provide a robust understanding of the complex plant - soil microbes interactions. Further understanding of the ecological diversity of microbes is clearly needed. This requires the use of specialised techniques. Furthermore, experimental systems addressing plant-microbe interactions have been limited to narrow a range of host plants and microbial organisms, often in agricultural situations. How to translate these results to whole communities in natural ecosystems, is not clear.

Another factor that limits progress is the disparity of approaches and protocols used.
Therefore the results obtained are often difficult to compare, and therefore to produce general hypotheses regarding the importance of the plant-soil microbe loops in various ecosystems. Furthermore, while most plant ecologists do have an appreciation of the importance of microbial processes in the soil, not many have the expertise in the microbial techniques required for conducting some of the critical experiments. While molecular techniques continue to develop and promise great further advance, they are often geared towards agricultural systems and are not rapidly disseminated into the broad community of plant ecologists. Faster transfer of know-how expertise is required.

Last Updated December 2009