Research Seminar - Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment

Seminar abstract: Plant facilitation processes (i.e. positive plant-plant interactions) play a critical role in extreme environments by promoting plant diversity and determining the composition and functioning of plant communities. Facilitation is traditionally explained by a direct amelioration of abiotic conditions by a benefactor plant species. Such nurse species facilitate the establishment and growth of other plants and promote plant community changes in their understory as they grow. However, and despite the importance of plant-soil interactions in ecosystem functioning, the role that soil microbial communities might play in plant facilitation is poorly understood. In this seminar I will take as example a semiarid ecosystem in Spain to show how the soil microbial community under a nurse-plant species also changes in composition, biomass and activity as the nurse grows. I will also show that this belowground biota plays a fundamental role in the mediation of the facilitation process, influencing not only plant growth, but also plant abundance, plant functional traits, phenology and reproductive effort.

For more information on Sara, please visit her HIE summary page.

The seminar will be followed by drinks and nibbles available in the foyer of L9 – all are welcome! We hope to see you all there - no RSVP is required.