Within‐species trade‐offs in plant‐stimulated soil enzyme activity and growth, flowering, and seed size

Abstract Soil microbial communities affect species demographic rates of plants. In turn, plants influence the composition and function of the soil microbiome, potentially resulting in beneficial feedbacks that alter their fitness and establishment. For example, differences in the ability to stimulate soil enzyme activity among plant lineages may affect plant growth and reproduction. We used a common garden study to test differences in plant‐stimulated soil enzyme activity between lineages of the same species across developmental stages. Lineages employed different strategies whereby growth, days to flowering and seed size traded‐off with plant‐stimulated soil enzyme activity. Specifically, the smaller seeded lineage stimulated more enzyme activity at the early stage of development and flowered earlier while the larger seeded lineage sustained lower but consistent enzyme activity through development. We suggest that these lineages, which are both successful invaders, employ distinct strategies (a colonizer and a competitor) and differ in their influence on soil microbial activity. Synthesis . The ability to influence the soil microbial community by plants may be an important trait that trades off with growth, flowering, and seed size for promoting plant establishment, reproduction, and invasion.