Plant diversity rooted in pathogens

摘要

Tropical forests routinely contain more than 200 tree species in a single hectare (Fig. 1). Why don't a few species come to dominate, by chance or by virtue of being better competitors? Multiple hypotheses have been proposed to answer this question, most of which invoke some sort of niche differentiation with respect to resources and/or natural enemies. But despite decades of research, the issue remains unresolved. In this issue, Bagchi ef al.