Predicting plant-soil feedbacks from plant traits

Friday, August 26, 2016 - 07:21 in Biology & Nature

In nature, plants cannot grow without soil biota like fungi and bacteria. Successful plants are able to harness positive, growth-promoting soil organisms, while avoiding the negative effects of others. Which plant traits can predict these interactions, or the success of a plant? Researchers and plant breeders like to know. In a paper in the Journal of Ecology of August 24 a team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen University and the Universität Leipzig tested exactly this and found thick roots to be a leading trait.

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