Subproject 09: Plant antagonists

We investigate how drought affects protistan plant antagonists (Oomycota and Cercozoa-Phytomyxea) and resulting negative soil legacy effects in dependence on plant diversity. The main objective of this project is to study the temporal stability, resistance, and recovery of these protistan plant antagonists in response to drought and how these factors are affected by plant diversity. Our central hypothesis is that drought may amplify negative soil legacy effects by plant antagonists, especially at low plant diversity levels, as outlined by the multiple-mechanisms hypothesis.