RESOURCE ECOLOGY

SOIL – PLANT – ANIMAL INTERACTIONS

SOIL AS RESOURCE FOR PLANTS
• Doodle, please vote
• Presentations ready until the end of October
• Small reminder of last lecture: movie
• Excursions later in semester
 PLANT NUTRIENT-
ACQUISITION STRATEGIES
How plants survived Chernobyl
• Trees, bushes, and vines overtake abandoned streets
surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power facility in the Ukraine.
Now, researchers discovered changes in the proteins of
soybeans grown near Chernobyl that could explain how plants
survive despite chronic radiation exposure. The findings could
one day help researchers engineer radiation-resistant crops.
• In April 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl plant exploded, sending
clouds of radioactive materiál across the countryside. Some
radioactive substances with decades-long half-lives, such as
cesium-137, persist to this day. Studies have shown deformities
in local wildlife, and the 30-kilometer radius around the former
plant is officially off-limits, though a few hundred elderly citizens
still eke out an existence there. Despite the devastation, local
flora flourishes.
• sciencemag
• The Dr. Hajduch team planted soybeans inside the 30-kilometer restricted
zone, just 5 kilometers from the remains of the power plant. They then
planted an identical batch of soybeans 100 kilometers from the plant,
where cesium-137 levels were 163 times lower. After several months, the
researchers harvested mature beans from the plants and analyzed the
proteins inside.
• The radiation zone beans looked odd even before the protein analysis.
They weighed half as much and took up water more slowly than their low-
radiation counterparts. And on a molecular level, the beans were even
stranger, the researchers report in the June Journal of Proteome
Research. When compared with normal plants, beans from the high-
radiation area had three times more cysteine synthase, a protein known
to protect plants by binding heavy metals. They also had 32% more
betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, a compound found to reduce
chromosomal abnormalities in human blood exposed to radiation. Seed
storage proteins, which provide nitrogen for germinating seeds, also
showed up in different concentrations--some higher, some lower--than in
regular soy.
• So what do the researchers make of this molecular milieu?
The plants seem to be protecting themselves from Chernobyl's
low-level radiation, but no one knows how these protein
changes translate into survival, or if they'll be passed on to the
plants' offspring. The team plans to analyze four generations
of beans to investigate further.
Plant body
• Water 75% (95-10%)+ Organic dry matter
• Proteins 4%
• Nucleic acids 1%
• Carbohydrates 16%
• Fats 1%
• Minerals 2%
Plants acquire nutrients by roots

• The process of nutrient uptake is phased:

• Movement of nutrients into the proximity of roots (passive or
active root growth)
• Penetration into intercellular space of root
• Penetration into cells of root (active and selective process)
• Transport within the plant

• Active uptake of nutrients - process against concentrations –

requires enegry (approx. 1/3 of energy from photosynthesis)
Plants acquire nutrients by roots

• Density of roots
• Rooting depth
• Spatial distribution of roots
Density of roots
• per unit volume
• higher in grasslands than in arable crops or trees
• the highest near surface where the most nutrients

Control More nutrients

Rooting depth
• often <1m, but in temperate grassland also
1.5-2 m, on graves even more than 3 m
• Deeper roots are finer and acquire moisture
during dry periods
 Spatial distribution of roots
• depends on
• plant species and community composition
• Soil: root growth is restricted by low % of pore space and a high
bulk density
• Weather, management

Bulk density (objemová hmotnost):

the mass of particles of the soil
material divided by the
total volume they occupy.

Non native prairie species Native species

 Availibility of nutrients to plants in relation to soil pH
• continuing trend of acidification, due to the effects of rain containing dissolved
CO2 and other acidic compounds + due to acidity araising from nitrification, plants
sustain pH 4-8.5
• Plant growth limited by N and P many ecosystems
• Adaptations for overcoming these limitations:
• effective mechanisms of resorption
• internal recycling,
• and allocation and use of N and P in growth

• Three major factors limit this N and P uptake:

1. the concentration of N or P at the absorbing root surface;
2. the total surface area of roots available for uptake;
3. and the distribution of roots in the soil.
 Below-ground nutrient-acquisition strategies

Figure 1. Changes in total soil P (purple) and N (blue) and in plant nutrient-acquisition strategies (green) as dependent on soil age, based
on data in various studies [5,11,36]. ‘Poorly developed, very young soils’ refers to soils that result from recent volcanic eruptions; ‘ancient,
highly weathered soils’ refers to soils that have been above sea level and have not been glaciated for millions of years. Although never
becoming dominant in severely P-impoverished soils, some mycorrhizal species do co-occur with non-mycorrhizal cluster-bearing
species. The highest and lowest total P levels in young and ancient soils are 800 mg kg1 soil and 30 mg kg1 soil, respectively. Peak total N
levels are 8 000 mg kg1 soil, whereas total N levels in the very youngest soils shown here are
Non-mycorrhizal species
• Species unable to establish a symbiotic association with any type of
mycorrhizal fungus;

• Brassicaceae (cabbage family), Cyperaceae (sedge family) and

Proteaceae
 Specialized, symbiotic root-structures
MYCORRHIZAS
• SCAVENGING: nutrients at sites unavailable to roots are accessed
through a symbiosis with mycorrizal fungi
• Extends the volume of soil to be scavanged
• ecto-mycorrhizae – symbiosis with ecto-mycorrhizal
fungi to aid in uptake of inorganic nutrients and
organic forms of N;
• arbuscular mycorrhizae – symbiosis with arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi to aid in acquisition of nutrients and
water;
 Specialized, non-symbiotic root-structures
CLUSTER ROOTS
• MINING: nutrients with low concentration in the soil solution
are unavailable to plant
• Root structures with
dense hair roots
• Release carboxylates into
the rhizosphere to
solubilize poorly available
nutrients (e.g.organic P,
N)

Root morphology of Proteaceae and Cyperaceae

Mycorrhizas
• https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x216x66

• Chen et al. 2018

Mycorrhiza alternative in animals
• Photosyntetic symbiosis in animals

• Animals acquire photosynthetically-fixed carbon by forming symbioses with

algae and cyanobacteria
• Porifera (sponges) and Cnidaria (corals, sea anemones etc.)
• Morphologically-simple body plan of the Porifera and Cnidaria with a large
surface area:volume relationship well-suited to light capture by symbiotic algae
in their tissues
• Photosynthetic products (maltose) are released from living symbiont cells to
the animal host
• Photosynthesis also poses risks for the animal because environmental
perturbations (high temperature or irradiance) lead to the production of
reactive oxygen species, damage to membranes and proteins, and ‘bleaching’,
including breakdown of the symbiosis.
• https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/59/5/1069/537020
Nitrogen and phosporus in plants
• Leaf N and P reflect soil N and P
availability
 Nitrogen and phosporus in plants
ELEVATION/ LATITUDE
• Low temperature - the main limiting factor for plant growth and
nutrient supply at high elevations.

Increase in foliar nutrient contents due to

plants’ inability to use the absorbed
resources for growth → low metabolic
processes
Nitrogen and phosporus in plants
ELEVATION/ LATITUDE
• Low temperature - the main limiting factor for plant growth and
nutrient supply at high latitudes.
Increase in foliar nutrient
contents due to low
metabolic processes →
increased N, P → increased
ability to start growth at the
short vegetation season

More moisture, higher temperatures → higher growth

→ dilution effect
Plant-soil FEEDBACK
• Process where plants alter the biotic and abiotic qualities of soil
they grow in, which then alters the ability of plants to grow in that
soil in the future
• Negative plant–soil feedback occurs when plants are less able to
grow in soil that was previously occupied by a member of the same
species, and positive plant–soil feedback occurs when plants are
more able to grow in soil that was previously occupied by a
member of the same species

• Negative plant–soil feedback is important factor in helping plants

to coexist. If a plant is over-abundant, then soil pathogens and
other negative factors will become common, hurting its growth
• Ehrenfeld et al. 2005
Plant-soil feedback
• Early civilizations (Mayans,Chinese, Romans), recognized
differences among soils affected agricultural productivity
• Primary factor in the genesis of soils, implicated in the evolution of
the terrestrial flora
• Until 1985 no research x since 1995 3500 papers per year
• Prominent component of the ecological responses to global
environmental changes.
• Potential causative mechanism promoting the invasion of
nonnative plant species.
• The eutrophication of terrestrial ecosystems due to atmospheric
and water-borne excess nutrients similarly causes ecological
changes through mechanisms of plant-soil feedback
How to measure
• Bever's interaction coefficient (Is)
• This value quantifies how much each plant's growth is limited by its
own soil community compared to how much it limits others. It is for
two-species comparisons. To measure this quantity, one must
measure the growth of two plants, both in soil conditioned by
members of their own species (Gx(home) for species x), and in soil
conditioned by members of the other species (Gx(away) for plant
species x).
• If Is is negative=both species grow worse in their own site
compared to their competitor's soil, and therefore plant–soil
feedback helps these species to coexist.
Examples
• Mangrove swamps: The oceanfront boundary of mangrove swamps
dominated by Avicennia marina is modified by a simple feedback
between the physical structure of the plant and the physical structure
of the shoreline. The plant’s pneumatophores trap sediment and
prevent erosion, decreasing the amount of seawater inundation by
raising the level of the ground. This facilitates further mangrove
expansion seaward
• Pygmy forests and heathlands: Dwarf conifer (Pinus contorta var.
bolanderi and Cupressus pygmaea) forests on coastal sands in California
have litter with very high concentrations of polyphenols. Phenolics
reduce N-cycling rates and decomposition, increasing forest floor
thickness, sequestering N in organic form, and ensuring that only
plants with ectomycorrhizal symbionts, which can absorb these
organic materials, can obtain sufficient N. The polyphenols also affect
the biogeochemistry of other nutrients (Fe, P) and toxic forms of
aluminum. This feedback thus involves both microbial and chemical
soil components.