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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021

Globally, plant-soil feedbacks are weak predictors of plant abundance

Reinhart, Kurt O.; Bauer, Jonathan T.; McCarthy-Neumann, Sarah; MacDougall, Andrew S.; Hierro, Jose L.; Chiuffo, Mariana C.; Mangan, Scott A.; Heinze, Johannes; Bergmann, Joana; Joshi, Jasmin; Duncan, Richard P.; Diez, Jeff M.; Kardol, Paul; Rutten, Gemma; Fischer, Markus; van der Putten, Wim H.; Bezemer, Thiemo Martijn; Klironomos, John

Abstract

Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) have been shown to strongly affect plant performance under controlled conditions, and PSFs are thought to have far reaching consequences for plant population dynamics and the structuring of plant communities. However, thus far the relationship between PSF and plant species abundance in the field is not consistent. Here, we synthesize PSF experiments from tropical forests to semiarid grasslands, and test for a positive relationship between plant abundance in the field and PSFs estimated from controlled bioassays. We meta-analyzed results from 22 PSF experiments and found an overall positive correlation (0.12 <= r over bar <= 0.32) between plant abundance in the field and PSFs across plant functional types (herbaceous and woody plants) but also variation by plant functional type. Thus, our analysis provides quantitative support that plant abundance has a general albeit weak positive relationship with PSFs across ecosystems. Overall, our results suggest that harmful soil biota tend to accumulate around and disproportionately impact species that are rare. However, data for the herbaceous species, which are most common in the literature, had no significant abundance-PSFs relationship. Therefore, we conclude that further work is needed within and across biomes, succession stages and plant types, both under controlled and field conditions, while separating PSF effects from other drivers (e.g., herbivory, competition, disturbance) of plant abundance to tease apart the role of soil biota in causing patterns of plant rarity versus commonness.

Keywords

community composition; meta-analysis; plant abundance; plant dominance; plant rarity; plant-soil feedbacks; soil biota; species coexistence

Published in

Ecology and Evolution
2021, volume: 11, number: 4, pages: 1756-1768
Publisher: WILEY

Authors' information

Reinhart, Kurt O.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Bauer, Jonathan T.
Miami University
McCarthy-Neumann, Sarah
Alma College
MacDougall, Andrew S.
University of Guelph
Hierro, Jose L.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Chiuffo, Mariana C.
Universidad Nacional del Comahue
Mangan, Scott A.
Arkansas State University
Heinze, Johannes
University of Potsdam
Bergmann, Joana
Free University of Berlin
Joshi, Jasmin
University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland (FHO)
Duncan, Richard P.
University of Canberra
Diez, Jeff M.
University of Oregon
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Rutten, Gemma
University of Bern
Fischer, Markus
University of Bern
van der Putten, Wim H.
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Bezemer, Thiemo Martijn
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Klironomos, John
University of British Columbia

Associated SLU-program

SLU Network Plant Protection

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7167

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/110677