Species of fast bulk-soil nutrient cycling have lower rhizosphere effects: A nutrient spectrum of rhizosphere effects

Tree roots not only acquire readily-usable soil nutrients but also affect microbial decomposition and manipulate nutrient availability in their surrounding soils, i.e., rhizosphere effects (REs). Thus, REs challenge the basic understanding how plants adapt to environment and co-exist with other species. Yet, how REs vary among species in response to species-specific bulk soil nutrient cycling is not well-known. Here we studied how plant-controlled microbial decomposition activities in rhizosphere soils respond to those in their corresponding bulk soils and whether these relations depend on species-specific nutrient cycling in the bulk soils. We targeted 55 woody species of different clades and mycorrhizal types in three contrasting biomes, namely a temperate forest, a subtropical forest and a tropical forest. We found that microbial decomposition activities in rhizosphere soils responded linearly to those in their corresponding bulk soils at the species level. Thereafter, we found that ..., ,