Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Frontiers in Environmental Science
Publisher
Frontiers Research Foundation
Publication Date
2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) have become a commonly invoked mechanism of plant coexistence and abundance. Yet, most PSF experiments have been performed in greenhouse conditions. To test whether or not greenhouse-measured PSF values are of similar magnitude and positively correlated with field-measured PSFs, we compared PSF values from five different studies that measured PSF values in both greenhouse and field conditions. For 36 plant species, greenhouse-measured PSF values were larger than and not positively correlated with field-measured PSF values. Similarly, these 36 species produced 269 soil-specific PSF values, and for each site there was no positive correlation between these greenhouse- and field-measured PSF values. While PSFs were observed in both greenhouse and field conditions, results provided no support at the soil, site or species level that a positive correlation exists between greenhouse- and field-measured PSF. Further, greenhouse-measured PSF appear to overestimate field-measured PSF. Although from five studies, results strongly suggest that field experiments are needed to understand the role of PSFs in plant communities in natural settings.
Recommended Citation
Forero, Leslie E., et al. "Greenhouse- and Field-Measured Plant-Soil Feedbacks Are Not Correlated." Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2019. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2019.00184