ArticleNature ecology & evolution2024
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi equalize differences in plant fitness and facilitate plant species coexistence through niche differentiation.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 11 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
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Rhizosphere Microbial Effects on Soil Quality ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Indirect Interactions Driven by Soil Effects Enable Coexistence Among Competing Plant Species.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Nitrogen starvation induces arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to optimize resource allocation in sugarcane roots via suppression of basal metabolism.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Regulatory effects of lavender varieties on rhizosphere soil properties and fungal community structure and function in semi-arid regions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Seasonal variation and drought effects on colonization and community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and dark septate endophytes in desert plants.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- A Set of Novel Venom Proteins Enables Parasitoid Wasps to Exploit Older Hosts and Coexist with Competitors.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Crucial Role of Common Species in Desert Plant Community Stability with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) Fungi Under Increased Precipitation.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Variation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Communities Between Root and Rhizosphere Soil of Endangered PlantJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Climate warming enhances biodiversity and stability of grassland soil phosphorus-cycling microbial communities.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Different forms of nitrogen uptake in tobacco promoted by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mycorrhizal fungi are essential to the establishment of the vast majority of plant species but are often conceptualized with contradictory roles in plant community assembly. On the one hand, host-specific mycorrhizal fungi may allow a plant to be competitively dominant by enhancing growth. On the other hand, host-specific mycorrhizal fungi with different functional capabilities may increase nutrient niche partitioning, allowing plant species to coexist. Here, to resolve the balance of these two contradictory forces, we used a controlled greenhouse study to manipulate the presence of two main types of mycorrhizal fungus, ectomycorrhizal fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and used a range of conspecific and heterospecific competitor densities to investigate the role of mycorrhizal fungi in plant competition and coexistence. We find that the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi equalizes fitness differences between plants and stabilizes competition to create conditions for host species coexistence. Our results show how below-ground mutualisms can shift outcomes of plant competition and that a holistic view of plant communities that incorporates their mycorrhizal partners is important in predicting plant community dynamics.
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Registered trials
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