Mycorrhiza in tree diversity-ecosystem function relationships: conceptual framework and experimental implementation.

ABSTRACT: The widely observed positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning is thought to be substantially driven by complementary resource use of plant species. Recent work suggests that biotic interactions among plants and between plants and soil organisms drive key aspects of resource use complementarity. Here, we provide a conceptual framework for integrating positive biotic interactions across guilds of organisms, more specifically between plants and mycorrhizal types, to explain resource use complementarity in plants and its consequences for plant competition. Our overarching hypothesis is that ecosystem functioning increases when more plant species associate with functionally dissimilar mycorrhizal fungi because differing mycorrhizal types will increase coverage of h

SUBMITTER: Ferlian O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6186167 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature