Plant-soil feedback and the maintenance of diversity in Mediterranean-climate shrublands

Kardol, PaulSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences,Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet,Institutionen för skogens ekologi och skötsel,Department of Forest Ecology and Management (författare)

Soil biota influence plant performance through plant-soil feedback, but it is unclear whether the strength of such feedback depends on plant traits and whether plant-soil feedback drives local plant diversity. We grew 16 co-occurring plant species with contrasting nutrient-acquisition strategies from hyperdiverse Australian shrublands and exposed them to soil biota from under their own or other plant species. Plant responses to soil biota varied according to their nutrient-acquisition strategy, including positive feedback for ectomycorrhizal plants and negative feedback for nitrogen-fixing and nonmycorrhizal plants. Simulations revealed that such strategy-dependent feedback is sufficient to maintain the high taxonomic and functional diversity characterizing these Mediterranean-climate shrublands. Our study identifies nutrient-acquisition strategy as a key trait explaining how different plant responses to soil biota promote local plant diversity.

Wardle, DavidSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences,Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet,Institutionen för skogens ekologi och skötsel,Department of Forest Ecology and Management,Nanyang Technological University (NTU)(Swepub:slu)49465 (författare)
Sveriges lantbruksuniversitetInstitutionen för skogens ekologi och skötsel (creator_code:org_t)
Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

Ingår i:Science: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)355, s. 173-1760036-80751095-9203

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