|
PEAI Part |
Scale (Taxonomy, Spatial, Temporal) |
Structure and Part of Whole (Part, Spatial, Temporal) |
Hypothesis and Prediction |
Discipline |
Assumptions |
Five T's |
| Plant(s) (P) | Understory forest plants (variety of biological taxonomy, to species level); 1-m2 quadrat sampling; 5–10 min visual search. | Plant structure (habit): herbaceous and other plants in the understory; part of whole: aboveground visible shoot and shoot-like part to then calculate richness of community of understory plants (richness is total number of plants in 1-m2 quadrat). | Understory plant richness will relate to soil, light, and microbiome. With higher pH, light and richness of microbiome there will be greater richness in understory plants and less disease. | Botany, plant pathology, forest ecology, community ecology, biogeography. | Plant richness in the observational study is related to light, pH, microbiome richness, and plant health. | Quadrats for each 1-m2 sampling area, field guides of plant species, plant presses (for samples), camera, GPS unit for location, data sheets, survey teams. |
| Environment(s) (E) | Soil properties and light levels; represents 1 m2, 5-10 min. | Structure: lithosphere or solid (soil pH) and energy (light, flux); in the quadrat of 1 m2; 5–10 min sampling. | Higher light and pH conditions will be less stressful for plants, subsequently promoting higher plant health and productivity that results in higher richness patterns. | Soil science, climate science, ecophysiology. | Soil and light samples are representative of the quadrat. | Soil corer, soil sampling bags, survey team, light meter, labeling equipment to keep samples clearly identified. |
| Associate(s) (A) | Taxonomy based on amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) for microbiomes, microscopic, snapshot; microbiome, more broadly and including organisms causing forest plant disease. | Structure (varied), eukaryotes: plant-associated fungi and protists; microscopic and snapshot. Structure (varied), prokaryotes: plant-associated bacteria; microscopic and snapshot. | Microbiome richness will reflect plant richness. Higher plant richness will have more beneficial plant associates than pathogens given there will be lower pathogen load compared to the other microbiome taxa. | Microbiology, molecular biology, community ecology, plant pathology. | There is a detectable relationship between the richness of the plants with the richness of the plant-associated microbes; if present, the species are interacting with one another and the plant. The ASV and bioinformatics pipeline approach more or less accurately represents the taxa. | DNAse free sampling tubes to capture the microbiome; gloves and sterilization equipment to prevent contamination of microbe samples. |
| Interaction(s) (I) | Plant-microbe-environment interactions; microscopic snapshot. | Structure: Plant-microbe-environment interactions; network analyses when data are collected (infer microscopic, snapshot interactions from analyses). | The light environment stimulates plant growth and physiology that interacts with plant nutrition and simultaneously interacts with the microbiome of the plants in the plant community, and the plants with one another, in linear and nonlinear complexity. | Complexity theory, network theory, systems biology, multitrophic interaction ecology. | If the leaf microbe species are present on a plant species, they are interacting with one another and the plant. Not all interactions will be beneficial for the plant or microbes. There will be positive, negative, and neutral interactions. | If possible, join a phytobiome working group around plant-microbe interactions, plant disease more broadly and focused on forest understory plants with their associates. |
