ArticleCommunications biology2022
Nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacteria act as a global filter for plant establishment on islands.
Article in Communications biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- On the role of mutualisms in plant biogeography: consequences for ecology, evolution, and invasion.The New phytologist · 2026Review
- Chemical ecology of symbioses in cycads, an ancient plant lineage.The New phytologist · 2025Review
- Legume life history interacts with land use degradation of rhizobia: Implications for restoration success.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2025Article
- Assembly and co-occurrence networks of nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with epiphyllous liverworts in fragmented tropical forests.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Soil bacterial and fungal diversity and composition respond differently to desertified system restoration.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Island biogeography has classically focused on abiotic drivers of species distributions. However, recent work has highlighted the importance of mutualistic biotic interactions in structuring island floras. The limited occurrence of specialist pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi have been found to restrict plant colonization on oceanic islands. Another important mutualistic association occurs between nearly 15,000 plant species and nitrogen-fixing (N-fixing) bacteria. Here, we look for evidence that N-fixing bacteria limit establishment of plants that associate with them. Globally, we find that plants associating with N-fixing bacteria are disproportionately underrepresented on islands, with a 22% decline. Further, the probability of N-fixing plants occurring on islands decreases with island isolation and, where present, the proportion of N-fixing plant species decreases with distance for large, but not small islands. These findings suggest that N-fixing bacteria serve as a filter to plant establishment on islands, altering global plant biogeography, with implications for ecosystem development and introduction risks.
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Registered trials
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