ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0476-7335
Current Organisation
Umea University
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Community Ecology | Terrestrial Ecology | Ecology | Ecosystem Function | Environmental Science and Management | Environmental Management | Ecological Physiology |
Coastal and Estuarine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity | Coastal and Estuarine Soils | Remnant Vegetation and Protected Conservation Areas in Coastal and Estuarine Environments | Natural Hazards in Forest and Woodlands Environments | Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences | Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-09-2017
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.04587
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-02-2019
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2590
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2008
DOI: 10.1111/J.1461-0248.2008.01219.X
Abstract: Worldwide decomposition rates depend both on climate and the legacy of plant functional traits as litter quality. To quantify the degree to which functional differentiation among species affects their litter decomposition rates, we brought together leaf trait and litter mass loss data for 818 species from 66 decomposition experiments on six continents. We show that: (i) the magnitude of species-driven differences is much larger than previously thought and greater than climate-driven variation (ii) the decomposability of a species' litter is consistently correlated with that species' ecological strategy within different ecosystems globally, representing a new connection between whole plant carbon strategy and biogeochemical cycling. This connection between plant strategies and decomposability is crucial for both understanding vegetation-soil feedbacks, and for improving forecasts of the global carbon cycle.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2013.02.008
Abstract: Some of the most species-rich plant communities occur on ancient, strongly weathered soils, whereas those on recently developed soils tend to be less erse. Mechanisms underlying this well-known pattern, however, remain unresolved. Here, we present a conceptual model describing alternative mechanisms by which pedogenesis (the process of soil formation) might drive plant ersity. We suggest that long-term soil chronosequences offer great, yet largely untapped, potential as 'natural experiments' to determine edaphic controls over plant ersity. Finally, we discuss how our conceptual model can be evaluated quantitatively using structural equation modeling to advance multivariate theories about the determinants of local plant ersity. This should help us to understand broader-scale ersity patterns, such as the latitudinal gradient of plant ersity.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-04-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12172
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-06-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-08-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-12-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-017-0415-0
Abstract: Understanding how loss of bio ersity affects ecosystem functioning, and thus the delivery of ecosystem goods and services, has become increasingly necessary in a changing world. Considerable recent attention has focused on predicting how bio ersity loss simultaneously impacts multiple ecosystem functions (that is, ecosystem multifunctionality), but the ways in which these effects vary across ecosystems remain unclear. Here, we report the results of two 19-year plant ersity manipulation experiments, each established across a strong environmental gradient. Although the effects of plant and associated fungal ersity loss on in idual functions frequently differed among ecosystems, the consequences of bio ersity loss for multifunctionality were relatively invariant. However, the context-dependency of bio ersity effects also worked in opposing directions for different in idual functions, meaning that similar multifunctionality values across contrasting ecosystems could potentially mask important differences in the effects of bio ersity on functioning among ecosystems. Our findings highlight that an understanding of the relative contribution of species or functional groups to in idual ecosystem functions among contrasting ecosystems and their interactions (that is, complementarity versus competition) is critical for guiding management efforts aimed at maintaining ecosystem multifunctionality and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2019
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12567
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-08-2023
Abstract: Perhaps as much as any other scientist in the 20th century, J.P. Grime transformed the study of plant ecology and helped shepherd the field toward international prominence as a nexus of ideas related to global environmental change. Editors at the Journal of Ecology asked a group of senior plant ecologists to comment on Grime's scientific legacy. This commentary piece includes in idual responses of 14 scientists from around the world attesting to Grime's foundational role in plant functional ecology, including his knack for sparking controversy, his unique approach to theory formulation involving clever experiments and standardized trait measurements of large numbers of species, and the continued impact of his work on ecological science and policy.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2011
DOI: 10.1038/475036A
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-06-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-07-2022
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.18353
Abstract: Mycorrhizal fungi associated with boreal trees and ericaceous shrubs are central actors in organic matter (OM) accumulation through their belowground carbon allocation, their potential capacity to mine organic matter for nitrogen (N) and their ability to suppress saprotrophs. Yet, interactions between co-occurring ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ERI), and saprotrophs are poorly understood. We used a long-term (19 yr) plant functional group manipulation experiment with removals of tree roots, ericaceous shrubs and mosses and analysed the responses of different fungal guilds (assessed by metabarcoding) and their interactions in relation to OM quality (assessed by mid-infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance) and decomposition (litter mesh-bags) across a 5000-yr post-fire boreal forest chronosequence. We found that the removal of ericaceous shrubs and associated ERI changed the composition of EMF communities, with larger effects occurring at earlier stages of the chronosequence. Removal of shrubs was associated with enhanced N availability, litter decomposition and enrichment of the recalcitrant OM fraction. We conclude that increasing abundance of slow-growing ericaceous shrubs and the associated fungi contributes to increasing nutrient limitation, impaired decomposition and progressive OM accumulation in boreal forests, particularly towards later successional stages. These results are indicative of the contrasting roles of EMF and ERI in regulating belowground OM storage.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-05-2022
Abstract: Fire is one of the predominant drivers of the structural and functional dynamics of forest ecosystems. In recent years, novel fire regimes have posed a major challenge to the management of pyro erse forests. While previous research efforts have focused on quantifying the impacts of fire on above‐ground forest bio ersity, how microbial communities respond to fire is less understood, despite their functional significance. Here, we describe the effects of time since fire, fire frequency and their interaction on soil and leaf litter fungal and bacterial communities from the pyro erse, Eucalyptus pilularis forests of south‐eastern Australia. Using structural equation models, we also elucidate how fire can influence these communities both directly and indirectly through biotic–abiotic interactions. Our results demonstrate that fire is a key driver of litter and soil bacterial and fungal communities, with effects most pronounced for soil fungal communities. Notably, recently burnt forest hosted lower abundances of symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi and Acidobacteria in the soil, and basidiomycetous fungi and Actinobacteriota in the litter. Compared with low fire frequencies, high fire frequency increased soil fungal plant pathogens, but reduced Actinobacteriota. The majority of fire effects on microbial communities were mediated by fire‐induced changes in litter and soil abiotic properties. For instance, recent and more frequent fire was associated with reduced soil sulphur, which led to an increase in soil fungal plant pathogens and saprotrophic fungi in these sites. Pathogenic fungi also increased in recently burnt forests that had a low fire frequency, mediated by a decline in litter carbon and an increase in soil pH in these sites. Synthesis . Our findings indicate that predicted increases in the frequency of fire may select for specific microbial communities directly and indirectly through ecological interactions, which may have functional implications for plants (increase in pathogens, decrease in symbionts), decomposition rates (declines in Actinobacteriota and Acidobacteriota) and carbon storage (decrease in ectomycorrhizal fungi). In the face of predicted shifts in wildfire regimes, which may exacerbate fire‐induced changes in microbial communities, adaptive fire management and monitoring is required to address the potential functional implications of fire‐altered microbial communities.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.12823
Abstract: Changes in soil fertility during pedogenesis affect the quantity and quality of resources entering the belowground subsystem. Climate governs pedogenesis, yet how climate modulates responses of soil food webs to soil ageing remains unexplored because of the paucity of appropriate model systems. We characterised soil food webs along each of four retrogressive soil chronosequences situated across a strong regional climate gradient to show that belowground communities are predominantly shaped by changes in fertility rather than climate. Basal consumers showed hump-shaped responses to soil ageing, which were propagated to higher-order consumers. There was a shift in dominance from bacterial to fungal energy channels with increasing soil age, while the root energy channel was most important in intermediate-aged soils. Our study highlights the overarching importance of soil fertility in regulating soil food webs, and indicates that belowground food webs will respond more strongly to shifts in soil resources than climate change.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-02-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-03-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-0437-3
Abstract: As the most abundant animals on earth, nematodes are a dominant component of the soil community. They play critical roles in regulating biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics within and across landscapes and are an indicator of soil biological activity. Here, we present a comprehensive global dataset of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition. This dataset includes 6,825 georeferenced soil s les from all continents and biomes. For geospatial mapping purposes these s les are aggregated into 1,933 unique 1-km pixels, each of which is linked to 73 global environmental covariate data layers. Altogether, this dataset can help to gain insight into the spatial distribution patterns of soil nematode abundance and community composition, and the environmental drivers shaping these patterns.
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-06-2023
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.17036
Abstract: Fire is a major evolutionary and ecological driver that shapes bio ersity in forests. While above‐ground community responses to fire have been well‐documented, those below‐ground are much less understood. However, below‐ground communities, including fungi, play key roles in forests and facilitate the recovery of other organisms after fire. Here, we used internal transcribed spacer (ITS) meta‐barcoding data from forests with three different times since fire [short (3 years), medium (13–19 years) and long ( years)] to characterize the temporal responses of soil fungal communities across functional groups, ectomycorrhizal exploration strategies and inter‐guild associations. Our findings indicate that fire effects on fungal communities are strongest in the short to medium term, with clear distinctions between communities in forests with a short time (3 years) since fire, a medium time (13–19 years) and a long time ( years) since fire. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were disproportionately impacted by fire relative to saprotrophs, but the direction of the response varied depending on morphological structures and exploration strategies. For instance, short‐distance ectomycorrhizal fungi increased with recent fire, while medium‐distance (fringe) ectomycorrhizal fungi decreased. Further, we detected strong, negative inter‐guild associations between ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi but only at medium and long times since fire. Given the functional significance of fungi, the temporal changes in fungal composition, inter‐guild associations and functional groups after fire demonstrated in our study may have functional implications that require adaptive management to curtail.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 13-01-2017
Abstract: Soil biota, including symbionts such as mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, as well as fungal and bacterial pathogens, affect terrestrial plant ersity and growth patterns (see the Perspective by van der Putten). Teste et al. monitored growth and survival in Australian shrubland plant species paired with soil biota from plants of the same species and from other plants that use different nutrient acquisition strategies. Plant-soil feedbacks appear to drive local plant ersity through interactions between the different types of plants and their associated soil biota. Bennett et al. studied plant-soil feedbacks in soil and seeds from 550 populations of 55 species of North American trees. Feedbacks ranged from positive to negative, depending on the type of mycorrhizal association, and were related to how densely the same species occurred in natural populations. Science , this issue p. 134 , p. 173 see also p. 181
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-12-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13266
Abstract: Loss of plant ersity has an impact on ecosystems worldwide, but we lack a mechanistic understanding of how this loss may influence below-ground biota and ecosystem functions across contrasting ecosystems in the long term. We used the longest running bio ersity manipulation experiment across contrasting ecosystems in existence to explore the below-ground consequences of 19 years of plant functional group removals for each of 30 contrasting forested lake islands in northern Sweden. We found that, against expectations, the effects of plant removals on the communities of key groups of soil organisms (bacteria, fungi and nematodes), and organic matter quality and soil ecosystem functioning (decomposition and microbial activity) were relatively similar among islands that varied greatly in productivity and soil fertility. This highlights that, in contrast to what has been shown for plant productivity, plant bio ersity loss effects on below-ground functions can be relatively insensitive to environmental context or variation among widely contrasting ecosystems.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-04-2017
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 25-10-2019
Abstract: Earthworms are key components of soil ecological communities, performing vital functions in decomposition and nutrient cycling through ecosystems. Using data from more than 7000 sites, Phillips et al. developed global maps of the distribution of earthworm ersity, abundance, and biomass (see the Perspective by Fierer). The patterns differ from those typically found in aboveground taxa there are peaks of ersity and abundance in the mid-latitude regions and peaks of biomass in the tropics. Climate variables strongly influence these patterns, and changes are likely to have cascading effects on other soil organisms and wider ecosystem functions. Science , this issue p. 480 see also p. 425
Location: New Zealand
Start Date: 04-2018
End Date: 06-2022
Amount: $645,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2013
End Date: 01-2015
Amount: $390,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity