Bacterial diversity amplifies nutrient-based plant-soil feedbacks

Plants foster diverse assemblages of bacteria in the rhizosphere serving important functions which may result in enhanced plant growth. Microbial diversity is increasingly recognized to shape the functionality of microbial communities. This leads to the assumption that there is a positive relationship between rhizosphere diversity and plant growth. Here we investigate how bacterial diversity affects the mineralization of organic matter and plant nutrient acquisition.
We hypothesized that altered bacterial diversity will affect nitrogen mineralisation, uptake by plants and ultimately plant growth. We set up a controlled model system with Arabidopsis thaliana colonized by defined assemblages of fluorescent pseudomonads, a well-characterised plant-beneficial rhizosphere taxon. The growth substrate contained casein as sole nitrogen source, making the plant nitrogen uptake dependant on breakdown by bacterial enzymes.
Bacterial diversity was associated with a higher enzyme activity which in...