10.6084/m9.figshare.5890573.v1 Xubing Liu Xubing Liu David F. R. P. Burslem David F. R. P. Burslem Joe D. Taylor Joe D. Taylor Andy F. S. Taylor Andy F. S. Taylor Eyen Khoo Eyen Khoo Noreen Majalap-Lee Noreen Majalap-Lee Thorunn Helgason Thorunn Helgason David Johnson David Johnson Partitioning of soil phosphorus among arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal trees in tropical and subtropical forests figshare 2018 Mycorrhizal fungi phosphate seedling growth soil organic phosphorus resource partitioning tropical and subtropical forests Ecology 2018-02-15 00:59:56 Dataset https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Partitioning_of_soil_phosphorus_among_arbuscular_and_ectomycorrhizal_trees_in_tropical_and_subtropical_forests/5890573 <a></a><a>Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both tropical and subtropical forests. Both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees responded positively to addition of inorganic P, but strikingly, ECM trees acquired more P from a complex organic form (phytic acid). Most ECM tree species and all AM tree species also showed some capacity to take up simple organic P (monophosphate). </a><a></a><a>Mycorrhizal colonization</a> was negatively correlated with soil extractable P concentration, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may regulate organic P acquisition among tree species. Our results support the hypothesis that ECM and AM plants partition soil P sources, which may play an ecologically important role in promoting species coexistence in tropical and subtropical forests.