Data from: Fungal effects on plant-plant interactions contribute to grassland plant abundances: evidence from the field

• Main Authors: Bennett, Jonathan A., Cahill, James F.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: Monarda fistulosa; Penstemon gracilis; Symphyotrichum laeve; Linum lewisii; facilitation; Bouteloua gracilis; Drymocallis arguta; Hedysarum alpinum; pathogens; belowground interactions; Bromus inermis; Campanula rotundifolia; Elymus trachycaulus; Artemisia ludoviciana; Nasella viridula; Heterotheca villosa; Anthropocene; Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Gaillardia aristata; Plant-soil feedbacks; grassland; Solidago missouriensis; Poa pratensis; dominance; Geum triflorum; community assembly; Zizia aptera; rarity; Life sciences; medicine and health care; competition; Alberta; Canada; envir; psy
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f84d3

1. Plant-fungal interactions can have strong effects on plant abundances, both through direct effects on plant performance and indirect effects on competition and facilitation. Most evidence linking fungi to plant abundances derives from direct fungal effects on initial growth, with little evidence linking fungal effects on plant-plant interactions in intact communities to plant abundances for any plant life history stage. 2. We transplanted 4320 individuals belonging to 18 plant species into plots where we removed neighbouring vegetation and suppressed fungi using fungicide in a factorial design. We monitored plant survival and growth for three years, using this data to test whether fungi had net effects on how plant-plant interactions affected different plant life history components (initial survival/growth, adult survival/growth). We then tested whether these indirect fungal effects or direct fungal effects on plant performance best explained plant commonness (frequency of occurrence) and local density (percent cover). Finally, we measured differences in root-associated fungi following fungal suppression and associated these differences with fungal effects on plant performance. 3. Overall, fungi increased competitive effects on survival (i.e. lower survival with fungi intact), but reduced competitive effects on growth of adult plants (i.e. higher growth when fungi intact). Among the focal species, these indirect fungal effects increased survival for more common species relative to rarer species. However, indirect fungal effects on adult growth benefitted rarer species more than common species. Local plant densities were unassociated with indirect fungal effects, but were negatively associated with direct fungal effects on survival and adult growth. This suggests that fungi limit local dominance, thereby indirectly increasing the establishment of common species and the growth of rare species. 4. Synthesis. By using a variety of plant species and suppressing both fungi and neighbours, we show that fungi have ...