How does negative plant-soil feedback across life stages affect the spatial patterning of trees?
Abstract
Abstract In this work, we theoretically explore how litter decomposition processes and soil-borne pathogens contribute to negativeplant-soil feedbacks, in particular in transient and stable spatial organisation of tropical forest trees and seedlings known asJanzen-Connell distributions. By considering soil-borne pathogens and autotoxicity both separately and in combination, we can understand the influence ofboth factors on transient dynamics and emerging Janzen-Connell distributions. We also identify parameter regimes associatedwith different long-term behaviours. Moreover, we compare how the strength of negative plant-soil feedbacks was mediated bygermination and growth strategies, using a combination of analytical approaches and numerical simulations. Our interdisciplinary investigation, motivated by an ecological question, allows us to construct an important link between localfeedbacks, spatial self-organisation, and community assembly, providing a valuable tool to help understanding biodiversity intropical ecosystems and disentangling the differences between two potential mechanisms driving Janzen-Connell distributions.Furthermore, our theoretical results may help guiding future field data analyses by identifying spatial signatures in adult treeand seedling distribution data that may reflect the presence of particular plant-soil feedback mechanisms.
Authors 6
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Annalisa Iuorio corresponding
Affiliation as printed
University of Vienna
University of Vienna, Faculty of Mathematics, Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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Affiliation as printed
University of Zurich
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Utrecht University · Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate · National Research Council
Affiliation as printed
National Research Council
Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences Group, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR-ISAC), Corso Fiume 4, Torino, 10133, Italy
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Affiliation as printed
Leiden University
Leiden University, Mathematical Institute, Niels Bohrweg 1, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Utrecht University
Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences Group, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
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University of Naples Federico II
Affiliation as printed
University of Naples Federico II
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