Soilborne fungi have host affinity and host-specific effects on seed germination and survival in a lowland tropical forest.

ABSTRACT: The Janzen-Connell (JC) hypothesis provides a conceptual framework for explaining the maintenance of tree diversity in tropical forests. Its central tenet-that recruits experience high mortality near conspecifics and at high densities-assumes a degree of host specialization in interactions between plants and natural enemies. Studies confirming JC effects have focused primarily on spatial distributions of seedlings and saplings, leaving major knowledge gaps regarding the fate of seeds in soil and the specificity of the soilborne fungi that are their most important antagonists. Here we use a common garden experiment in a lowland tropical forest in Panama to show that communities of seed-infecting fungi are structured predominantly by plant species, with only minor influences of factors such

SUBMITTER: Sarmiento C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5664508 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature