Benjamin A. Sikes

TL;DR: It is demonstrated theoretically and empirically that host-specific soil microbes can be major determinants of the diversity-productivity relationship in grasslands using an analytical model and a series of experiments.

TL;DR: Plant and fungal identity determines pathogen protection of plant roots by arbuscular mycorrhizas and this article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

TL;DR: Strong variation is observed in the functional pathways by which AM fungi altered plant growth; changes in plant biomass were associated with different functions (and different AM fungal functional groups) for the different plant species.

TL;DR: Research indicates that plant trait differences, such as root architecture, can determine how important each mycorrhizal function is to plant growth but the ability to provide these functions differs among AM fungi, and protection only by Glomus species indicates that whatever the mechanism(s) of this function, it responds to AM fungal families differently.

TL;DR: Estimating the rate at which new fungal pathogens arrived and established on 131 economically important plant species over the last 133 years in New Zealand suggests that targeted biosecurity can slow pathogen arrival and establishment despite increasing trade and international movement of people.