This October the large common-garden plant-soil feedback field experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel, Minnesota will become available for management by another research group. This experiment consists of a full-factorial, two-phase experiment testing responses of 16 species (in four functional groups) to soil previously conditioned by either the same or a different species. The full-factorial two-phase design is considered the gold standard in plant-soil feedback research. This experiment was designed to test plant-soil feedbacks as a potential mechanism for the biodiversity-productivity relationship, and therefore has a small replicate biodiversity experiment nearby.
This experiment takes two part-time workers and a manager to maintain during the summer growing season. It has been well-maintained over the past four years, and comes with a functional irrigation system. It would be ideal for determining how long plant-soil feedback effects last, or how irrigation affects plant-soil feedbacks. If you would like more information about the experiment, please contact me via email at leslieefor...@gmail.com.
