title: Plant-soil feedbacks and mycorrhizal type influence temperate forest population dynamics.
abstract: Feedback with soil biota is an important determinant of terrestrial plant diversity. However, the factors regulating plant-soil feedback, which varies from positive to negative among plant species, remain uncertain. In a large-scale study involving 55 species and 550 populations of North American trees, the type of mycorrhizal association explained much of the variation in plant-soil feedbacks. In soil collected beneath conspecifics, arbuscular mycorrhizal trees experienced negative feedback, whereas ectomycorrhizal trees displayed positive feedback. Additionally, arbuscular mycorrhizal trees exhibited strong conspecific inhibition at multiple spatial scales, whereas ectomycorrhizal trees exhibited conspecific facilitation locally and less severe conspecific inhibition regionally. These results suggest that mycorrhizal type, through effects on plant-soil feedbacks, could be an important contributor to population regulation and community structure in temperate forests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of British Columbia-Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada. jon.a.bennett@gmail.com john.klironomos@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Hafiz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maherali
authors.affiliation: Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 243 Fort Keogh Road, Miles City, MT 59301-4016, USA.
authors.forename: Kurt O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Reinhart
authors.affiliation: MPG Ranch, Missoula, MT 59801, USA.|Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
authors.forename: Ylva
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lekberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of British Columbia-Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada.
authors.forename: Miranda M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of British Columbia-Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada. jon.a.bennett@gmail.com john.klironomos@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klironomos
mesh_terms: D025461:Feedback, Physiological; D065928:Forests; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000502:physiology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013559:Symbiosis; D014197:Trees / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*