Plant–soil feedbacks: role of plant functional group and plant traits

Microbially Mediated Plant Functional Traits

Plants are rife with bacteria and fungi that colonize roots and shoots both externally and internally. By providing novel nutritional and defense pathways and influencing plant biochemical pathways, microbes can fundamentally alter plant phenotypes. Here we review the widespread nature of microbially mediated plant functional traits. We highlight that there is likely fitness conflict between ho...

Legacy effects of drought on plant - soil feedbacks and plant - plant interactions 1 2

Legacy effects of drought on plant-soil feedbacks and plant-plant interactions.

Interactions between aboveground and belowground biota have the potential to modify ecosystem responses to climate change, yet little is known about how drought influences plant-soil feedbacks with respect to microbial mediation of plant community dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that drought modifies plant-soil feedback with consequences for plant competition. We measured net pairwise plant-...

Plant functional traits and the multidimensional nature of species coexistence.

Understanding the processes maintaining species diversity is a central problem in ecology, with implications for the conservation and management of ecosystems. Although biologists often assume that trait differences between competitors promote diversity, empirical evidence connecting functional traits to the niche differences that stabilize species coexistence is rare. Obtaining such evidence i...

The Evolution of Plant Functional Variation: Traits, Spectra, and Strategies

*Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108, U.S.A.; †Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia; ‡Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, Maryland 21037, U.S.A.; §Landcare Research, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin, New Zealand; kPolish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, 62-03...