Short‐ and long‐term effects of nutrient enrichment on salt marsh plant production and microbial community structure

Abstract Nutrient enrichment impacts ecosystems globally. Population history, especially past resource environments, of numerically dominant plant species may affect their responses to subsequent changes in nutrient availability. Eutrophication can also alter plant–microbe interactions via direct effects on associated microbial communities or indirect effects on dominant species’ biomass production/allocation as a result of modified plant–soil interactions. We combined a greenhouse common garden and a field reciprocal transplant of a salt marsh foundation species ( Spartina alterniflora ) within a long‐term, whole‐ecosystem, nutrient‐enrichment study to determine whether enrichment affects plant production and microbial community structure differently depending on plant population history. For the greenhouse portion, we collected 20 S. alterniflora genotypes—10 from an enriched creek that had receiv