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Soil microbial communities buffer physiological responses to drought stress in three hardwood species

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Abstract

Trees possess myriad adaptations for coping with drought stress, but the extent to which their drought responses are influenced by interactions with soil microbes is poorly understood. To explore the role of microbes in mediating tree responses to drought stress, we exposed saplings of three species (Acer saccharum, Liriodendron tulipifera, and Quercus alba) to a four week experimental drought in mesocosms. Half of the pots were inoculated with a live soil slurry (i.e., a microbial inoculum derived from soils beneath the canopies of mature A. saccharum, L. tulipifera or Q. alba stands), while the other half of the pots received a sterile soil slurry. Soil microbes ameliorated drought stress in L. tulipifera by minimizing reductions in leaf water potential and by reducing photosynthetic declines. In A. saccharum, soil microbes reduced drought stress by lessening declines in leaf water potential, though these changes did not buffer the trees from declining photosynthetic rates. In Q. alba, soil microbes had no effects on leaf physiological parameters during drought stress. In all species, microbes had no significant effects on dynamic C allocation during drought stress, suggesting that microbial effects on plant physiology were unrelated to source–sink dynamics. Collectively, our results suggest that soil microbes have the potential to alter key parameters that are used to diagnose drought sensitivity (i.e., isohydry or anisohydry). To the extent that our results reflect dynamics occurring in forests, a revised perspective on plant hydraulic strategies that considers root-microbe interactions may lead to improved predictions of forest vulnerability to drought.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Kimberly Novick and Tyler Roman for analytical equipment and assistance with data analysis, and Peter Sauer for advice regarding isotopic analysis. Special thanks to Matthew Craig, Adrienne Keller, and Meghan Midgely for advice, feedback, and assistance with this experiment. Funding was provided by Department of Energy’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program.

Author contribution statement

SAK and RPP conceived and designed the experiment. SAK performed the experiment and data analysis. SAK and RPP wrote the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47403, USA

    Steven A. Kannenberg & Richard P. Phillips

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  1. Steven A. Kannenberg
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Correspondence to Steven A. Kannenberg.

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Communicated by Russell K. Monson.

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Kannenberg, S.A., Phillips, R.P. Soil microbial communities buffer physiological responses to drought stress in three hardwood species. Oecologia 183, 631–641 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3783-2

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