Soil abiotic and biotic properties constrain the establishment of a dominant temperate tree into boreal forests

Abstract

Climate warming is expected to cause the poleward and upward elevational expansion of temperate plant species, but non-climatic factors such as soils could constrain this range expansion. However, the extent to which edaphic constraints on range expansion have an abiotic (e.g. soil chemistry) or biotic (e.g. micro-organisms) origin remains undetermined. We conducted greenhouse experiments to test if the survival and growth of a major North American temperate tree species, Acer saccharum (sugar maple), is independently or jointly constrained by abiotic and biotic properties of field-collected soils from within and beyond the species' elevational range. Abiotic factors, particularly low base cation concentrations, were major constraints to seedling establishment in boreal forest soils (beyond the range edge), but insufficient arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal inoculum (biotic factor) also strongly reduced seedling performance in these soils. Synthesis. Our results suggest that forecasting future changes in forest composition under climate warming requires consideration of soil properties as well as the mycorrhizal status of tree species.