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Linking PSF and coexistence theory
Growing evidence shows that soil microbes affect plant coexistence in a variety of systems. However, since these systems vary in the impacts microbes have on plants and in the ways plants compete with each other, it is challenging to integrate results into a general predictive theory. To this end, we have suggested that the concepts of niche and fitness difference from modern coexistence theory should be used to contextualize the diverse effects soil microbes have on plant coexistence (Ke and Wan, 2020, Ecological Monographs). For example, by applying modern coexistence theory to a mechanistic model of plant-soil feedback, we have clarified how the interaction network predicts whether soil microbes affect primarily niche or fitness differences among competing plant, and how soil microbes affect the importance of plant-plant competition for resources. Based on perspectives from coexistence theory, we have also proposed an efficient experimental framework that can simultaneously quantify microbial effects and plant-plant competition. In recent collaborations, we are applying this experimental design to understand plant competitive dynamics in natural ecosystems.
