Why rare plants are rare
Rare plant species suffer more from disease than more common species. The fact that rare species are more susceptible to attack by micro-organisms living in the soil, such as fungi and bacteria, may in fact be one of the reasons they are rare. Biologists have been trying to work out why some species are rare, while others are common, since Darwin's time and a new study from researchers at the University of Bern provides a possible answer. SPSW member Eric Allan and Markus Fischer with their teams carried out this project.
Reference publication
Kempel, Rindisbacher, Fischer & Allan: Plant soil feedback strength in relation to large-scale plant rarity and phylogenetic relatedness. Ecology, 01. March 2018, doi:10.1002/ecy.2145 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.2145/abstract
Source
Bern University News, Media release, http://www.unibe.ch/news/media_news/media_relations_e/media_releases/2018/media_releases_2018/why_rare_plants_are_rare/index_eng.html