Provenance legacies override species effects in shaping oak rhizosphere microbiomes and metabolomes.
Bibinger S, Nosenko T, Sivaprakasam Padmanaban PB, Schulz S, Schroeder H
Climate Adaptation
When foresters choose which oak trees to plant in your local park or watershed, picking trees whose ancestors survived droughts could mean those trees arrive pre-loaded with soil microbes that help them cope with the increasingly hot, dry summers ahead.
Scientists grew English oaks and sessile oaks from two different regions of Europe side by side for six years, then looked at the microscopic community living in their roots and soil. They discovered that the region where the acorns came from — not which type of oak the tree was — determined which bacteria colonized the roots and which protective chemicals the roots produced. Trees whose ancestors came from drier places had more drought-associated bacteria and higher levels of a plant compound linked to surviving water stress.
Key Findings
Geographic seed origin (provenance) consistently shaped the bacterial rhizosphere microbiome and root metabolome across a 6-year common garden experiment, while oak species identity had no significant effect.
Trees from the drier north German lowland origin were enriched with the bacterial family Pseudonocardiaceae, and showed higher levels of ellagic acid — a polyphenol associated with drought tolerance.
Higher intrinsic water use efficiency correlated with lower prokaryotic (bacterial) diversity in the rhizosphere, suggesting drought-adapted trees host more specialized microbial communities.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A 6-year study found that where an oak tree's seeds originated matters more than which oak species it is when it comes to the soil microbes and root chemicals it develops. Oaks from drier regions carried distinct soil bacteria and drought-protective compounds even when grown in identical conditions, suggesting the trees' ancestral environment shapes their underground partnerships.
Abstract Preview
As climate change drives more frequent drought-heat extremes, selecting drought-tolerant trees is crucial for future forest resilience. However, the role of tree-microbial associations remains larg...
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