Soil/plant interactions

The interactions between grassland vegetation and soil microbial communities are reviewed. Recent methodological developments for measuring soil microbial community structure are discussed and their application to the study of interactions between grassland vegetation and soils considered at three different scales. First, the evidence that different grassland communities condition soil microbial diversity is reviewed. Secondly, evidence for interactions between individual grass species and soil microbes is discussed at the level of the rhizosphere, by considering results from vegetation substitution experiments. Finally, interactions occurring in the rhizoplane are considered and research discussed showing that, while the impact of plant species on the mycorrhizal community is comparatively strong, coselection between plant species and the bacterial community structure is weak. It is concluded that, while individual plant species can affect the activity of the soil microbial community, its structure is determined more by a range of environmental factors such as soil fertility, pH and possibly soil organic matter quality.