TY - JOUR

T1 - Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses

AU - Steidinger, B. S.

AU - Crowther, T. W.

AU - Liang, J.

AU - Van Nuland, M. E.

AU - Werner, G. D. A.

AU - Reich, P. B.

AU - Nabuurs, G.

AU - de-Miguel, S.

AU - Zhou, M.

AU - Picard, N.

AU - Herault, B.

AU - Zhao, X.

AU - Zhang, C.

AU - Routh, D.

AU - Peay, K. G.

AU - Abegg, Meinrad

AU - Yao, C. Yves Adou

AU - Alberti, Giorgio

AU - Zambrano, Angelica Almeyda

AU - Alvarez-Davila, Esteban

AU - Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia

AU - Alves, Luciana F.

AU - Ammer, Christian

AU - Anton-Fernandez, Clara

AU - Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro

AU - Arroyo, Luzmila

AU - Avitabile, Valerio

AU - Aymard, Gerardo

AU - Baker, Timothy

AU - Balazy, Radomir

AU - Banki, Olaf

AU - Barroso, Jorcely

AU - Bastian, Meredith

AU - Bastin, Jean-Francois

AU - Birigazzi, Luca

AU - Birnbaum, Philippe

AU - Bitariho, Robert

AU - Boeckx, Pascal

AU - Bongers, Frans

AU - Bouriaud, Olivier

AU - Brancalion, Pedro H. S.

AU - Brandl, Susanne

AU - Brearley, Francis Q.

AU - Brienen, Roel

AU - Broadbent, Eben

AU - Bruelheide, Helge

AU - Bussotti, Filippo

AU - Gatti, Roberto Cazzolla

AU - Cesar, Ricardo

AU - Cesljar, Goran

AU - Chazdon, Robin

AU - Chen, Han Y. H.

AU - Chisholm, Chelsea

AU - Cienciala, Emil

AU - Clark, Connie J.

AU - Clark, David

AU - Colletta, Gabriel

AU - Condit, Richard

AU - Coomes, David

AU - Cornejo Valverde, Fernando

AU - Corral-Rivas, Jose J.

AU - Crim, Philip

AU - Cumming, Jonathan

AU - Dayanandan, Selvadurai

AU - de Gasper, Andre L.

AU - Decuyper, Mathieu

AU - Derroire, Geraldine

AU - DeVries, Ben

AU - Djordjevic, Ilija

AU - Ieda, Amaral

AU - Dourdain, Aurelie

AU - Obiang, Nestor Laurier Engone

AU - Enquist, Brian

AU - Eyre, Teresa

AU - Fandohan, Adande Belarmain

AU - Fayle, Tom M.

AU - Feldpausch, Ted R.

AU - Finer, Leena

AU - Fischer, Markus

AU - Fletcher, Christine

AU - Fridman, Jonas

AU - Frizzera, Lorenzo

AU - Gamarra, Javier G. P.

AU - Gianelle, Damiano

AU - Glick, Henry B.

AU - Harris, David

AU - Hector, Andrew

AU - Hemp, Andreas

AU - Hengeveld, Geerten

AU - Herbohn, John

AU - Herold, Martin

AU - Hillers, Annika

AU - Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.

AU - Huber, Markus

AU - Hui, Cang

AU - Cho, Hyunkook

AU - Ibanez, Thomas

AU - Jung, Ilbin

AU - Imai, Nobuo

AU - Jagodzinski, Andrzej M.

AU - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan

AU - Johannsen, Vivian

AU - Joly, Carlos A.

AU - Jucker, Tommaso

AU - Karminov, Viktor

AU - Kartawinata, Kuswata

AU - Kearsley, Elizabeth

AU - Kenfack, David

AU - Kennard, Deborah

AU - Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian

AU - Keppel, Gunnar

AU - Khan, Mohammed Latif

AU - Killeen, Timothy

AU - Kim, Hyun Seok

AU - Kitayama, Kanehiro

AU - Kohl, Michael

AU - Korjus, Henn

AU - Kraxner, Florian

AU - Laarmann, Diana

AU - Lang, Mait

AU - Lewis, Simon

AU - Lu, Huicui

AU - Lukina, Natalia

AU - Maitner, Brian

AU - Malhi, Yadvinder

AU - Marcon, Eric

AU - Marimon, Beatriz Schwantes

AU - Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur

AU - Marshall, Andrew Robert

AU - Martin, Emanuel

AU - Martynenko, Olga

AU - Meave, Jorge A.

AU - Melo-Cruz, Omar

AU - Mendoza, Casimiro

AU - Merow, Cory

AU - Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo

AU - Moreno, Vanessa

AU - Mukul, Sharif A.

AU - Mundhenk, Philip

AU - Nava-Miranda, Maria G.

AU - Neill, David

AU - Neldner, Victor

AU - Nevenic, Radovan

AU - Ngugi, Michael

AU - Niklaus, Pascal

AU - Oleksyn, Jacek

AU - Ontikov, Petr

AU - Ortiz-Malavasi, Edgar

AU - Pan, Yude

AU - Paquette, Alain

AU - Parada-Gutierrez, Alexander

AU - Parfenova, Elena

AU - Park, Minjee

AU - Parren, Marc

AU - Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy

AU - Peri, Pablo L.

AU - Pfautsch, Sebastian

AU - Phillips, Oliver

AU - Piedade, Maria Teresa

AU - Piotto, Daniel

AU - Pitman, Nigel C. A.

AU - Polo, Irina

AU - Poorter, Lourens

AU - Poulsen, Axel Dalberg

AU - Poulsen, John R.

AU - Pretzsch, Hans

AU - Arevalo, Freddy Ramirez

AU - Restrepo-Correa, Zorayda

AU - Rodeghiero, Mirco

AU - Rolim, Samir

AU - Roopsind, Anand

AU - Rovero, Francesco

AU - Rutishauser, Ervan

AU - Saikia, Purabi

AU - Saner, Philippe

AU - Schall, Peter

AU - Schelhaas, Mart-Jan

AU - Schepaschenko, Dmitry

AU - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael

AU - Schmid, Bernhard

AU - Schongart, Jochen

AU - Searle, Eric

AU - Seben, Vladimir

AU - Serra-Diaz, Josep M.

AU - Salas-Eljatib, Christian

AU - Sheil, Douglas

AU - Shvidenko, Anatoly

AU - Silva-Espejo, Javier

AU - Silveira, Marcos

AU - Singh, James

AU - Sist, Plinio

AU - Slik, Ferry

AU - Sonke, Bonaventure

AU - Souza, Alexandre F.

AU - Sterenczak, Krzysztof

AU - Svenning, Jens-Christian

AU - Svoboda, Miroslav

AU - Targhetta, Natalia

AU - Tchebakova, Nadja

AU - ter Steege, Hans

AU - Thomas, Raquel

AU - Tikhonova, Elena

AU - Umunay, Peter

AU - Usoltsev, Vladimir

AU - Valladares, Fernando

AU - van der Plas, Fons

AU - Tran Van Do, null

AU - Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo

AU - Verbeeck, Hans

AU - Viana, Helder

AU - Vieira, Simone

AU - von Gadow, Klaus

AU - Wang, Hua-Feng

AU - Watson, James

AU - Westerlund, Bertil

AU - Wiser, Susan

AU - Wittmann, Florian

AU - Wortel, Verginia

AU - Zagt, Roderick

AU - Zawila-Niedzwiecki, Tomasz

AU - Zhu, Zhi-Xin

AU - Zo-Bi, Irie Casimir

N1 - Correction :https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1342-9

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - The identity of the dominant root-associated microbial symbionts in a forest determines the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients from atmospheric or soil pools1,2, sequester carbon3,4 and withstand the effects of climate change5,6. Characterizing the global distribution of these symbioses and identifying the factors that control this distribution are thus integral to understanding the present and future functioning of forest ecosystems. Here we generate a spatially explicit global map of the symbiotic status of forests, using a database of over 1.1 million forest inventory plots that collectively contain over 28,000 tree species. Our analyses indicate that climate variables—in particular, climatically controlled variation in the rate of decomposition—are the primary drivers of the global distribution of major symbioses. We estimate that ectomycorrhizal trees, which represent only 2% of all plant species7, constitute approximately 60% of tree stems on Earth. Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis dominates forests in which seasonally cold and dry climates inhibit decomposition, and is the predominant form of symbiosis at high latitudes and elevation. By contrast, arbuscular mycorrhizal trees dominate in aseasonal, warm tropical forests, and occur with ectomycorrhizal trees in temperate biomes in which seasonally warm-and-wet climates enhance decomposition. Continental transitions between forests dominated by ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal trees occur relatively abruptly along climate-driven decomposition gradients; these transitions are probably caused by positive feedback effects between plants and microorganisms. Symbiotic nitrogen fixers—which are insensitive to climatic controls on decomposition (compared with mycorrhizal fungi)—are most abundant in arid biomes with alkaline soils and high maximum temperatures. The climatically driven global symbiosis gradient that we document provides a spatially explicit quantitative understanding of microbial symbioses at the global scale, and demonstrates the critical role of microbial mutualisms in shaping the distribution of plant species.

AB - The identity of the dominant root-associated microbial symbionts in a forest determines the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients from atmospheric or soil pools1,2, sequester carbon3,4 and withstand the effects of climate change5,6. Characterizing the global distribution of these symbioses and identifying the factors that control this distribution are thus integral to understanding the present and future functioning of forest ecosystems. Here we generate a spatially explicit global map of the symbiotic status of forests, using a database of over 1.1 million forest inventory plots that collectively contain over 28,000 tree species. Our analyses indicate that climate variables—in particular, climatically controlled variation in the rate of decomposition—are the primary drivers of the global distribution of major symbioses. We estimate that ectomycorrhizal trees, which represent only 2% of all plant species7, constitute approximately 60% of tree stems on Earth. Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis dominates forests in which seasonally cold and dry climates inhibit decomposition, and is the predominant form of symbiosis at high latitudes and elevation. By contrast, arbuscular mycorrhizal trees dominate in aseasonal, warm tropical forests, and occur with ectomycorrhizal trees in temperate biomes in which seasonally warm-and-wet climates enhance decomposition. Continental transitions between forests dominated by ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal trees occur relatively abruptly along climate-driven decomposition gradients; these transitions are probably caused by positive feedback effects between plants and microorganisms. Symbiotic nitrogen fixers—which are insensitive to climatic controls on decomposition (compared with mycorrhizal fungi)—are most abundant in arid biomes with alkaline soils and high maximum temperatures. The climatically driven global symbiosis gradient that we document provides a spatially explicit quantitative understanding of microbial symbioses at the global scale, and demonstrates the critical role of microbial mutualisms in shaping the distribution of plant species.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-019-1128-0

DO - 10.1038/s41586-019-1128-0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31092941

VL - 569

SP - 404

EP - 408

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

IS - 7756

ER -