Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901-83, Umeå, Sweden.
Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
New Phytol. 2019 Jan;221(1):577-587. doi: 10.1111/nph.15367. Epub 2018 Aug 1.
The study of interactions and feedbacks between plants and soils is a rapidly expanding research area, and a primary tool used in this field is to perform glasshouse experiments where soil biota are manipulated. Recently, there has been vigorous debate regarding the correctness of methods for carrying out these types of experiment, and specifically whether it is legitimate to mix soils from different sites or plots (mixed soil sampling, MSS) or not (independent soil sampling, ISS) to create either soil inoculum treatments or subjects. We performed the first empirical comparison of MSS vs ISS approaches by comparing growth of two boreal tree species (Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris) in soils originating from 10 sites near the boreal forest limit in northern Sweden, and 10 sites in the subarctic region where boreal forests may potentially expand as a result of climate change. We found no consistent differences in the conclusions that we reached whether we used MSS or ISS approaches. We propose that researchers should not choose a soil handling method based on arguments that one method is inherently more correct than the other, but rather that method choice should be based on correct alignment with specific research questions and goals.
植物与土壤之间的相互作用和反馈的研究是一个快速发展的研究领域，该领域的主要工具是在温室中进行实验，以操纵土壤生物群。最近，人们对开展这类实验的方法的正确性进行了激烈的辩论，特别是混合来自不同地点或地块的土壤（混合土壤采样，MSS）是否合理，还是应该保持土壤的独立性（独立土壤采样，ISS），从而创造出土壤接种处理或实验对象。我们通过比较来自瑞典北部接近北方森林界限的 10 个地点以及北方森林可能因气候变化而扩张的亚北极地区的 10 个地点的土壤中两种北方树种（云杉和欧洲赤松）的生长情况，首次对 MSS 与 ISS 方法进行了实证比较。无论我们使用 MSS 还是 ISS 方法，我们都没有得出一致的结论差异。我们建议研究人员不应基于一种方法本质上比另一种方法更正确的论点来选择土壤处理方法，而应根据正确的方法选择与特定的研究问题和目标相一致。
