Linking plant-soil feedback with resource competition to understand plant coexistence

Abstract

1. Plant-soil feedback (PSF) is increasingly recognized as an important mechanism influencing plant coexistence, but most studies have examined PSF in isolation under controlled conditions. Under natural conditions, PSF operates together with other processes such as resource competition, yet how these processes jointly shape plant coexistence across environmental gradients remains poorly understood. 2. We combined field and greenhouse experiments to assess the contribution of PSF to plant coexistence at low- and high-elevation sites in the Swiss Alps. In the field, we quantified total niche and fitness differences and predicted interaction outcomes for nine plant species pairs, integrating PSF, resource competition, and other processes. In a complementary greenhouse experiment, we used soil microbial communities conditioned during the field experiment to isolate PSF-driven niche and fitness differences for the same species pairs. 3. PSF alone generated strong fitness differences but weak niche differences in the greenhouse experiment, predominantly predicting competitive exclusion. Interaction outcomes predicted from PSF alone corresponded poorly with those in the field, suggesting that PSF in isolation poorly explain plant coexistence under natural conditions. Nevertheless, PSF-driven niche and fitness differences were related to those quantified in the field, which were likely driven largely by resource competition, suggesting that PSF may contribute to coexistence by reinforcing or counteracting other ecological processes. These relationships varied between elevations, highlighting the context dependence of PSF contributions to coexistence. 4. Synthesis. Our study shows that the impacts of plant-soil feedback on plant coexistence cannot be understood from their effects in isolation. Instead, their contribution depends on how they interact with other ecological processes and on the environmental context in which these processes operate. Together, our findings emphasize the need to move beyond studying PSF in isolation towards quantifying how it combines with other mechanisms that drives coexistence under natural conditions.