Plant-soil feedbacks as drivers of succession: evidence from remnant and restored tallgrass prairies

Plant-soil feedbacks can contribute to the coexistence of plant species and may predict the abundance of plant species within communities. Here, we test if plant-soil feedbacks act as drivers of secondary succession. We found that the strength of feedback experienced by a plant species was positively correlated with that species' successional stage, indicating that plant-soil feedbacks can contribute to shifts in plant species abundance during succession. We did not observe a significant relationship between strength of feedback and plant species abundance at our study sites, but the positive relationship of feedback and successional stage would generate positive relationships between feedback and the abundance of plant species in communities at equilibrium. This result is supported by spatially explicit simulation models that demonstrate the potential for plant-soil feedbacks to determine changes in species abundance over time and the increasing strength of the relationship between feedback and plant species abundance during succession.