Plant antagonists

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Michael Bonkowski; Dr. Sigrid Neuhauser
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422440326

In response to climate change, European grasslands are increasingly affected by severe droughts. SP09 investigates how drought affects protistan plant antagonists (Oomycota and Phytomyxea) and resulting negative soil legacy effects in dependence on plant diversity. Our objectives are to assess i) the temporal stability, resistance, and recovery of these protistan plant antagonists in response to drought, ii) how antagonists in plant diversity gradients are affected by drought stress, and iii) how the combined biotic (antagonists) and abiotic (drought) stresses feedback on plant performance with increasing plant diversity. Our central hypothesis is that drought may amplify negative soil legacy effects by plant antagonists, especially at low plant diversity levels. We designed four coordinated work packages to assess i) changes in the community composition, structure and phylogenetic representation of protistan antagonists as affected by (normal) seasonal variation and extreme (hot drought) events and ii) the combined biotic and abiotic stresses affecting plant growth-defence trade-offs along the plant diversity gradient. Our proposal will particularly contribute to the overarching hypothesis that plant diversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning and that long-term patterns can be predicted by short-term responses to drought.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5000: Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships
• International Connection: Austria, China
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Yan Chen, Ph.D.