title: Plant-soil feedback and the maintenance of diversity in Mediterranean-climate shrublands.
abstract: 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.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. francois.teste@uwa.edu.au.|Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, IMASL-CONICET and Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Avenida Ejercito de los Andes 950 (5700), San Luis, Argentina.
authors.forename: François P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Teste
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kardol
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama.|School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden.|Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wardle
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.|Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zemunik
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Renton
authors.affiliation: Centre sur la Biodiversité, Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, 4101 Sherbrooke Est, Montréal, QC H1X 2B2, Canada.|School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laliberté
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D058448:Biota / Q000502:physiology*; D002980:Climate; D025461:Feedback, Physiological; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D063245:Plant Development; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil