Fungal diversity regulates plant-soil feedbacks in temperate grassland

Feedbacks between plants and soil microbial communities play an importantrole in vegetation dynamics, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved.Here we show that the diversity of putative pathogenic, mycorrhizal andsaprotrophic fungi are primary regulators of plant-soil feedbacks across a broadrange of temperate grassland plant species. We show that plant species withresource-acquisitive traits, such as high shoot nitrogen concentrations and thinroots, attract diverse communities of putative fungal pathogens and specialistsaprotrophs, and a lower diversity of mycorrhizal fungi, resulting in strong plantgrowth suppression on soil occupied by the same species. Moreover, soilproperties modulate feedbacks with fertile soils promoting antagonisticrelationships between soil fungi and plants. This study advances our capacity topredict plant-soil feedbacks and vegetation dynamics by revealing fundamentallinks between soil properties, plant resource acquisition strategies and thediversity of fungal guilds in soil.