The influence of plant functional type and phenology on plant inputs to soil as affected by simultaneous changes in environmental factors

(Co)investigator from the Department: Keith Edwards
Funding provider: The Czech Science Foundation
Duration: 2019 to 2021

Project goals: 
How plant functional types and phenological stages influence the quantity and quality of plant inputs under combined changes in nutrient and water levels and their impact on soil microbial community structure and processes.

Project description: 
A  mesocosm study will be conducted to determine the combined effects of nutrient and water level changes on the quality and quantity of plant inputs to the soil and how these may influence soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activities. The study will focus on the growth, allocation patterns and source-sink relationships in representative wetland species of the conservative and competitive plant functional types, and how these internal plant factors are altered at different plant phenological stages. We predict that the conservative species will grow better in far-from-optimal hydrologic conditions, but that the poorer growth of the competitive species under these conditions will be mitigated with increased nutrient supply. In addition, the competitive species will show a greater degree of plasticity under changing environmental conditions. These internal changes in plant source-sink relationships will be translated to the soil microbial community structure and activities.