Plant–microbe eco‐evolutionary dynamics in a changing world

New Phytologist, vol. 234, pp. 1919–1928

Abstract

Both plants and their associated microbiomes can respond strongly to anthropogenic environmental changes. These responses can be both ecological (e.g. a global change affecting plant demography or microbial community composition) and evolutionary (e.g. a global change altering natural selection on plant or microbial populations). As a result, global changes can catalyse eco-evolutionary feedbacks. Here, we take a plant-focused perspective to discuss how microbes mediate plant ecological responses to global change and how these ecological effects can influence plant evolutionary response to global change. We argue that the strong and functionally important relationships between plants and their associated microbes are particularly likely to result in eco-evolutionary feedbacks when perturbed by global changes and discuss how improved understanding of plant-microbe eco-evolutionary dynamics could inform conservation or even agriculture.

Authors 5

1. Nicolas Bériot

   Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena · Wageningen University & Research

   Affiliation as printed

   Soil Physics and Land Management Group Wageningen University & Research PO Box 47 Wageningen 6700AA the Netherlands

   Sustainable Use, Management and Reclamation of Soil and Water Research Group Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48 Cartagena 30203 Spain

2. Edisa García Hernández

   University of Groningen

   Affiliation as printed

   Microbial Community Ecology Group Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences University of Groningen Groningen 9700 CC the Netherlands

3. Erqin Li

   Utrecht University · Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research · Freie Universität Berlin

   Affiliation as printed

   Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin 14195 Germany

   Institut für Biologie Freie Universität Berlin Berlin 14195 Germany

   Plant‐Microbe Interactions Group Institute of Environmental Biology Utrecht University Padualaan 8 Utrecht 3584 CH the Netherlands

4. Raul Masteling Aachen

   Leiden University · Netherlands Institute of Ecology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Microbial Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW) PO Box 50 Wageningen 6708 PB the Netherlands

   Institute of Biology Leiden University Leiden 2333 BE the Netherlands

   Microbial Ecology (ME)

5. Jennifer A. Lau corresponding

   Indiana University Bloomington · Indiana University

   Affiliation as printed

   Biology Department and the Environmental Resilience Institute Indiana University 1001 East 3rd St. Bloomington IN 47405 USA