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

ScienceNOW - Fetched: January 12th, 2017, 4:00pm UTC

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. Authors: François P. Teste, Paul Kardol, Benjamin L. Turner, David A. Wardle, Graham Zemunik, Michael Renton, Etienne Laliberté

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