The role of plant–soil feedbacks in stabilizing a reindeer‐induced vegetation shift in subarctic tundra

作者：Dagmar Egelkraut, Paul Kardol, Jonathan R. De Long, Johan Olofsson · 发表于：Functional Ecology · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2435.13113 · 被引用次数：35 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Botany and Plant Ecology Studies、Lichen and fungal ecology

Abstract Herbivory can drive vegetation into different states of productivity and community composition, and these changes may be stable over time due to historical contingency effects. Interactions with abiotic and biotic soil components can contribute to such long‐term legacies in plant communities through stabilizing positive feedbacks. We studied the role of plant–soil feedbacks in maintaining vegetation changes caused by historical (~1350–1900 AD ) reindeer herding in northern Sweden. These historical milking grounds ( HMG s) consist of meadow plant communities formed in naturally nutrient‐poor heath or naturally nutrient‐rich shrub‐dominated vegetation and are still clearly visible in the landscape, a century after active use ceased. We selected two phytometer species: the forb Potentilla crantzii as representative of HMG vegetation, and the dwarf shrub Betula nana, as representative of control vegetation. We grew both species under glasshouse conditions on soils derived from replicated HMG and paired control plots, using live soils and sterilized (γ‐radiation)‐inoculated soils, to separate between biotic and abiotic soil effects. A net negative plant–soil feedback for B. nana biomass in its home (i.e., control) soil and a net positive feedback for P. crantzii in its home (i.e., HMG ) soil in heath habitat was partly driven by the soil biotic community. However, abiotic differences in mineral nitrogen (N) concentrations between control and HMG soils were a stronger driv...