10.5061/DRYAD.3J9KD51GT
Reinhart, Kurt
0000-0002-7985-6738
United States Department of Agriculture
Bauer, Jonathan
Miami University
McCarthy-Neumann, Sarah
Alma College
MacDougall, Andrew
University of Guelph
Hierro, José
National University of La Pampa
Chiuffo, Mariana
National University of Comahue
Mangan, Scott
Arkansas State University
Heinze, Johannes
University of Potsdam
Bergmann, Joana
Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research
Joshi, Jasmin
Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research
Duncan, Richard
University of Canberra
Diaz, Jeff
University of Oregon
Kardol, Paul
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Rutten, Gemma
University of Bern
Fischer, Markus
University of Bern
van der Putten, Wim
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Bezemer, T.
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Klironomos, John
University of British Columbia
Globally, plant-soil feedbacks are weak predictors of plant abundance
Dryad
dataset
2020
2021-12-19T00:00:00Z
2021-06-24T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7167
37094 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
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 ̅ ) ≤ 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.
The plant-soil feedback and abundance data provided in
"PSF_data_2020.csv" were used to determine effect sizes
(correlation coefficients per experiment) with the R script (see "R
script.docx"). Background information on the plant-soil feedback and
plant abundance data can be understood by cross-referencing the meta-data
descriptions per study provided at the beginning of "R
script.docx" file and Table A1 of the main manuscript. Selected and
mean effects sizes (i.e. correlation coefficients) were then aggregated
into a second data file (meta-analysis parameters2_2020.csv) and analyzed
with the subsequent script in the same R script file.