Genome size influences plant growth and biodiversity responses to nutrient fertilization in diverse grassland communities
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Experiments comparing diploids with polyploids and in single grassland sites show that nitrogen and/or phosphorus availability influences plant growth and community composition dependent on genome size; specifically, plants with larger genomes grow faster under nutrient enrichments relative to those with smaller genomes. However, it is unknown if these effects are specific to particular site localities with speciifc plant assemblages, climates, and historical contingencies. To determine the generality of genome size-dependent growth responses to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization, we combined genome size and species abundance data from 27 coordinated grassland nutrient addition experiments in the Nutrient Network that occur in the Northern Hemisphere across a range of climates and grassland communities. We found that after nitrogen treatment, species with larger genomes generally increased more in cover compared to those with smaller genomes, potentially due to a release from nutrient limitation. Responses were strongest for C3 grasses and in less seasonal, low precipitation environments, indicating that genome size effects on water-use-efficiency modulates genome size–nutrient interactions. Cumulatively, the data suggest that genome size is informative and improves predictions of species’ success in grassland communities.
Date Issued
2024-12
Date Acceptance
2024-11-05
Citation
PLoS Biology, 2024, 22 (12)
ISSN
1544-9173
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS Biology
Volume
22
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2024 Morton et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002927
Subjects
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biology
CELL-SIZE
COMPETITION
CONDUCTANCE
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
NITROGEN
NUCLEAR-DNA CONTENT
PATTERNS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
POLYPLOIDY
R PACKAGE
Science & Technology
TRANSPIRATION
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e3002927
Date Publish Online
2024-12-11