Host functional traits affect plant responses to pathogen stress: A meta-analysis

Abstract Pathogens impose major biotic stresses on plant growth and development. A meta-analysis of 73 articles and 301 case studies was conducted to investigate whether plant functional traits affect plant responses to pathogen stress. Plant lifespan, herbaceous plant growth form, and N-fixing ability were found to be general determinants of plant growth following pathogen inoculation. Plant carbon fixation pathways and mycorrhizal association ability had inconsistent effects on plants growth following pathogen inoculation. Specifically, we found long-lived plants were less affected by pathogen inoculation than short-lived plants. The growth of forbs relative to grasses was more reduced by pathogen inoculation. The growth of non-N-fixing species relative to N-fixing species was less reduced by pathogen inoculation. Pathogen inoculation did not have significantly different effects on species with different carbon fixation pathways or different capacities for mycorrhizal associations. Our findings highlight the importance of plant functional traits in the responses of host plants to pathogen stress.