PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Semchenko, Marina
AU  - Leff, Jonathan W.
AU  - Lozano, Yudi M.
AU  - Saar, Sirgi
AU  - Davison, John
AU  - Wilkinson, Anna
AU  - Jackson, Benjamin G.
AU  - Pritchard, William J.
AU  - De Long, Jonathan R.
AU  - Oakley, Simon
AU  - Mason, Kelly E.
AU  - Ostle, Nicholas J.
AU  - Baggs, Elizabeth M.
AU  - Johnson, David
AU  - Fierer, Noah
AU  - Bardgett, Richard D.
TI  - Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland
AID  - 10.1126/sciadv.aau4578
DP  - 2018 Nov 01
TA  - Science Advances
PG  - eaau4578
VI  - 4
IP  - 11
4099  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/11/eaau4578.short
4100  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/11/eaau4578.full
SO  - Sci Adv2018 Nov 01; 4
AB  - Feedbacks between plants and soil microbial communities play an important role in vegetation dynamics, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we show that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal, and saprotrophic fungi is a primary regulator of plant-soil feedbacks across a broad range of temperate grassland plant species. We show that plant species with resource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thin roots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialist saprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plant growth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soil properties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils, promoting antagonistic relationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity to predict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamental links between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies, and the diversity of fungal guilds in soil.