Figure 2: Relationships between plant diversity, root biomass and exudates, and soil microorganisms.
From: Root biomass and exudates link plant diversity with soil bacterial and fungal biomass
Correlations among plant diversity (experimental treatment; 1, 3, or 6 plant species) and plant shoot biomass, root biomass (both [g microcosm−1]), Shannon diversity of roots, root exudate diversity [richness of different compounds], amount of root exudates (log total of the most frequent compounds fumaric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-coumaric acid, and vanillic acid [μM]; see main text for details), soil bacterial biomass, and soil fungal biomass (both [nmol g−1 soil dry weight]). One-headed arrows indicate treatment effects on response variables, while double-headed arrows indicate correlations. Significant relationships (p < 0.05) are given in bold; r stands for correlation coefficient. Note that results of structural equation modelling are not shown due to low replication number, but confirmed the significant relationship between the amount of root exudates and fungal biomass (p = 0.046).
