Biology subjects

Bennett, A. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Bennett, A. E..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Fire limits soil microbial dispersal and differentially impacts bacterial and fungal communities

Fire is a globally pervasive force reshaping ecosystems, yet its influence on the ecological processes structuring soil microbiomes remains poorly understood. Using a meta-analysis of >2,600 amplicon sequencing samples across 19 global studies, we tested whether fire alters soil microbiome assembly processes, diversity, and ecological selection for pyrophilic specialists. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, we found that fire did not significantly shift ecological selection processes in bacteria or fungi but instead constrained dispersal, particularly reducing dispersal in bacterial and fungal communities, and increasing ecological drift in fungi. Despite limited evidence for ecological selection, fire consistently filtered for specialist taxa, increasing their relative abundance across microbial communities. Fire also reduced fungal diversity and evenness, while bacterial communities exhibited greater dominance and loss of rare taxa. These findings support the idea that fire promotes microbial post-fire niche specialization while disrupting dispersal pathways. Our results indicate that increasing fire frequency and severity under climate change may homogenize soil microbial communities, reduce microbial resilience, and constrain ecosystem recovery.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Soil microbiota and herbivory influence the structure of plant-associated microbial communities in tomato plants

Plant-associated microbial communities are key to shaping many aspects of plant biology. In this study, we tested whether soil microbial communities and herbivory influence the bacterial community of tomato plants and whether their influence in different plant compartments is driven by microbial spillover between compartments or whether plants are involved in mediating this effect. We grew our plants in soils hosting three different microbial communities and covered (or not) the soil surface to prevent (or allow) passive microbial spillover between compartments, and we exposed them (or not) to herbivory by Manduca sexta. The results showed that the soil-driven effect on aboveground compartments was consistently detected regardless of soil coverage, whereas soil cover influenced the herbivore-driven effect on belowground microbiota. Together, our results suggest that the soil microbiota influences aboveground plant and insect microbial communities via changes in plant metabolism and physiology or by sharing microorganisms via xylem sap. In contrast, herbivores influence the belowground plant microbiota via a combination of microbial spillover and changes in plant metabolism. These results demonstrate the important role of plants in linking aboveground and belowground microbiota, and can foster further research on soil microbiota manipulation for sustainable pest management.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Soil microbial diversity impacts plant microbiomes more than herbivory

Interactions between plants and microbiomes play a key role in ecosystem functioning and are of broad interest due to their influence on nutrient cycling and plant protection. However, we do not yet have a complete understanding of how plant microbiomes are assembled. Here, we tested and quantified the effect of different factors driving the diversity and composition of plant-associated microbial communities. We manipulated soil microbial diversity (high or low diversity), plant species (Solanum tuberosum or Solanum vernei), and herbivory (presence or absence of a phloem-feeding insect Macrosiphum euphorbiae), and found that soil microbial diversity influenced the herbivore-associated microbiome composition, but also plant species and herbivory influenced the soil microbiome composition. We quantified the relative strength of these effects and demonstrated that the initial soil microbiome diversity explained the most variation in plant- and herbivore-associated microbial communities. Our findings strongly suggest that soil microbial community diversity is a driver of the composition of multiple associated microbiomes (plant and insect), and this has implications for the importance of management of soil microbiomes in multiple systems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Biological invasions alter environmental microbiomes: a meta-analysis

Biological invasions impact both agricultural and natural systems. The damage can be quantified in terms of both economic loss and reduction of biodiversity. Although the literature is quite rich about the impact of invasive species on plant and animal communities, their impact on environmental microbiomes is underexplored. Here, we re-analyze publicly available data using a common framework to create a global synthesis of the effects of biological invasions on environmental microbial communities. Our findings suggest that non-native species are responsible for the loss of microbial diversity and shifts in the structure of microbial populations. Therefore, the impact of biological invasions on native ecosystems might be more pervasive than previously thought, influencing both macro- and micro-biomes. We also identified gaps in the literature which encourage research on a wider variety of environments and invaders, and the influence of invaders across seasons and geographical ranges.

ecology↗