Habitat quality drives the species–area relationship of plants and soil microbes in an ocean archipelago

Abstract

While the positive species–area relationship on islands is frequently observed, the mechanisms underlying this pattern remain poorly studied. By analyzing insular community diversity across spatial scales and the soil properties within the islands, we were able to explore potential mechanisms leading to the island species–area relationship of plants, as well as associated soil bacteria and fungi, from a tropical archipelago. We found that both plant and soil microbial communities showed similar positive species–area relationships across scales and the greater taxonomic diversity on larger islands was mainly driven by the higher richness within samples. These patterns arose primarily due to shifting habitat quality with island area, rather than spatial processes generally attributed to species–area relationships. Specifically, for plants, changes in soil total phosphorus content with island area were most explanatory, while changes in soil pH appeared to play the most important role in shaping soil bacteria and fungi patterns. By contrast, we found little evidence for the role of spatial processes (i.e. dispersal limitation or soil heterogeneity) within the island. Overall, this study highlights the importance of dissecting potential mechanisms underlying multi‐trophic community dynamics to explain patterns of biodiversity and its variation on islands.