Waiting for the snow to melt…
The Importance of Neighbor-Driven Priority Effects for Structuring Communities of Plant Root-Associated Fungi Priority effects, in which the order of arrival of species shapes the composition of a local species assemblage, can be a prominent mechanism for structuring communities. However, empirical tests have thus far been restricted to simple, species-poor communities. Understanding how priority effects scale with species richness is important for understanding their relevance in the diverse, complex communities that commonly occur in nature. Symbioses provide a tractable system for exploring the dependence of priority effects on species richness. In particular fungal endophytes are ideal since roots of an individual plant can harbor hundreds of species of fungi. In this study, we address the question: What is the relative importance of species richness in modifying the strength of priority effects for fungal community assembly?