The effect of temporal variability on the stability of species interactions

Violeta Calleja-Solanas 

Functional team selection as a framework for local adaptation in plants and their belowground microbiomes 

Nancy Collins and César Marín Johnson

The paper presents functional team selection (FTS) as a major conceptual advance in plant–microbiome ecology. FTS explains how limiting resources and/or stress selects cooperative microbial teams that promote plant adaptation, integrating ecological feedback and evolutionary selection to predict when and where resilient plant–microbiome partnerships will arise.

Abstract

Multicellular organisms are hosts to diverse communities of smaller organisms known as microbiomes. Plants have distinctive microbiomes that can provide important functions related to nutrition, defense, and stress tolerance. Empirical studies provide convincing evidence that in some—but not all—circumstances, belowground microbiomes help plants adapt to their local environment. The purpose of this review is to develop functional team selection (FTS) as a framework to help predict the conditions necessary for root microbiomes to generate local adaptation for their plant hosts. FTS envisions plants and their microbiomes as complex adaptive systems, and plant adaptations as emergent properties of these systems. If plants have the capacity to recognize and cultivate beneficial microbes and suppress pathogens, then it is possible for plants to evolve the capacity to gain adaptations by curating their microbiome. In resource-limited and stressful environments, the emergent functions of complex microbial systems may contribute to positive feedback linked to plant vigor, and ultimately, local adaptation. The key factors in this process are: (i) selective force, (ii) host constitution, (iii) microbial diversity, and (iv) time. There is increasing interest in harnessing beneficial microbial interactions in agriculture and many microbial growth-promoting products are commercially available, but their use is controversial because a large proportion of these products fail to consistently enhance plant growth. The FTS framework may help direct the development of durable plant-microbiome systems that enhance crop production and diminish pathogens. It may also provide valuable insights for understanding and managing other kinds of host-microbe systems.

https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wraf137/8182121?login=false

Landscape and crop diversity contributes to greater yield stability

Tobajas et al., 2025.

1. Maintaining stable agricultural production is a critical challenge for food security. Stable yields depend not only on climatic variables, but also on agricultural landscape management. While agricultural intensification can increase productivity in the short term, it often reduces long-term yield stability due to reduced crop diversity and the loss of semi-natural habitats.
2. This study investigates the relationships between landscape heterogeneity, climatic variables and temporal stability of crop yields across Spain. Using an extensive national dataset of productivity for 31 crops from 2013 to 2019, we analysed how landscape composition (crop richness, semi-natural habitat cover) and configuration (field size, edge density), along with climatic factors (precipitation, temperature, water deficit), influence yield stability.
3. Our results show that yield stability is influenced by climatic factors and landscape characteristics. Greater land-use heterogeneity and stable precipitation favour yield stability. Furthermore, moderate within-season precipitation concentrations also improved yield stability. We also detected interactive effects between crop pollinator dependence and landscape-level crop diversity and climate. Pollinator-dependent crops showed greater stability with increasing crop diversity and variable temperatures, while non-pollinator-dependent crops benefited from simpler crop areas and stable temperatures.
4. Synthesis and applications. These findings underscore the importance of promoting crop diversity and maintaining heterogeneous agricultural landscapes, particularly in pollinator-dependent crops. Promoting diverse agricultural landscapes with balanced heterogeneity can enhance the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change and contribute to long-term food security.

https://review.frontiersin.org/review/1569843/14/894232

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