Parasitic plants indirectly regulate below-ground properties in grassland ecosystems
Parasitic plants indirectly regulate below-ground properties in grassland ecosystems
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DOI：
10.1038/nature04197
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发表时间：
2006-02-23
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Hobbs, PJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bardgett, RD;Smith, RS;Hobbs, PJ
寄生植物是自然生态系统和管理生态系统中最普遍存在的通才寄生物之一，全世界已知的物种超过3，000种（1-3）。虽然我们对寄生植物如何影响寄主植物有很多了解（1-4），但它们作为群落和生态系统水平特性驱动因素的作用在很大程度上仍未被探索（5）。寄生植物有可能直接影响植物群落的生产力和结构，因为它们对特定的宿主植物造成伤害，间接增加非宿主物种的竞争地位（6-10）。这种由寄生虫驱动的地上效应也可能通过改变进入土壤的资源的数量和质量而产生重要的间接后果，从而影响分解生物的活动（3、11 -13）。在这里，我们在模型草原群落中发现，寄生植物Rhinanthus minor广泛分布于欧洲和北美（14），对地上群落特性具有强烈的直接影响，增加了植物多样性，降低了生产力。我们还证明了R.对植物群落的轻微影响对地下性质有显着的间接影响，最终增加氮循环的速率。我们的研究提供的证据表明，寄生植物作为草地生态系统的地上和地下属性的主要驱动力。
Parasitic plants are one of the most ubiquitous groups of generalist parasites in both natural and managed ecosystems, with over 3,000 known species worldwide(1-3). Although much is known about how parasitic plants influence host peformance(1-4), their role as drivers of community- and ecosystem-level properties remains largely unexplored(5). Parasitic plants have the potential to influence directly the productivity and structure of plant communities because they cause harm to particular host plants, indirectly increasing the competitive status of non-host species(6-10). Such parasite-driven above-ground effects might also have important indirect consequences through altering the quantity and quality of resources that enter soil, thereby affecting the activity of decomposer organisms(3,11-13). Here we show in model grassland communities that the parasitic plant Rhinanthus minor, which occurs widely throughout Europe and North America(14), has strong direct effects on above-ground community properties, increasing plant diversity and reducing productivity. We also show that these direct effects of R. minor on the plant community have marked indirect effects on below-ground properties, ultimately increasing rates of nitrogen cycling. Our study provides evidence that parasitic plants act as a major driver of both above-ground and below-ground properties of grassland ecosystems.