Differential soil fungus accumulation and density dependence of trees in a subtropical forest

作者：Lei Chen, Nathan G. Swenson, Niu‐Niu Ji, Xiangcheng Mi, Haibao Ren, Liang‐Dong Guo, Keping Ma · 发表于：Science · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1126/science.aau1361 · 被引用次数：301 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Lichen and fungal ecology、Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions

The mechanisms underlying interspecific variation in conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) are poorly understood. Using a multilevel modeling approach, we combined long-term seedling demographic data from a subtropical forest plot with soil fungal community data by means of DNA sequencing to address the feedback of various guilds of soil fungi on the density dependence of trees. We show that mycorrhizal type mediates tree neighborhood interactions at the community level, and much of the interspecific variation in CNDD is explained by how tree species differ in their fungal density accumulation rates as they grow. Species with higher accumulation rates of pathogenic fungi suffered more from CNDD, whereas species with lower CNDD had higher accumulation rates of ectomycorrhizal fungi, suggesting that mutualistic and pathogenic fungi play important but opposing roles.