The importance of soil microorganisms for maintaining diverse plant communities in tallgrass prairie
- 1 December 2010
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in American Journal of Botany
- Vol. 97 (12), 1937-1943
- https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.0900237
Abstract
• Premise of the study: According to the “Janzen-Connell hypothesis,” soil microorganisms have the potential to increase plant community diversity by mediating negative feedback on plant growth. Evidence for such microbe-driven negative feedback has been found in a variety of terrestrial systems. However, it is currently unknown how general this phenomenon is within most plant communities. Also unknown is the role of mutualists in generating such feedback: do they decrease the influence of soil-mediated negative feedback on plant fitness or do they increase its effect by proliferating with plant hosts to which they give the least benefit?Keywords
Funding Information
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE‐AC02‐06CH11357)
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