Soil legacies affecting soil functions and fungal communities in the field

Soil legacies mediated by plant species-specific microbial communities are major drivers of plant community dynamics. Here, we used an existing plant-soil feedback field experiment in which plant communities with different growth strategies (i.e., fast versus slow) and different proportions of functional groups (grasses versus forbs) were allowed to condition the soil over contrasting temporal scales (i.e., one versus two years) in a natural grassland. In the feedback phase, we removed the existent plant community, and replaced it with a standardized response plant community. We then tested the legacy effects of these different soil conditioning treatments on soil fungal decomposer community composition.