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Significance It is widely known from agriculture that pathogens can specialize on genotypes within plant species, but such highly specialized pathogens have rarely been studied in natural plant communities. Although empirical evidence in natural plant communities demonstrates that pathogens can specialize at the level of species, our experiment in Panama demonstrates specialization of soil microbes within a wild plant population. Our complementary computer simulations suggest that genotype-level specialization by microbes may help maintain plant species diversity and promote the evolution of increased seed dispersal. Together, our results improve understanding of the role of microbes in natural plant communities by showing that microbes that specialize within species could influence diversity and dynamics in plant communities.

Evidence of within-species specialization by soil microbes and the implications for plant community diversity