Plant–soil feedback plays an important role in the progression of plant community succession

Abstract Background Studying plant–soil feedback (PSF) is of great significance to understanding plant community dynamics. Aims We aimed to determine the temporal variation in PSF at different stages of grassland community succession and the influencing factors. Methods We conducted a 3‐year experiment to examine how PSF changes during different successional stages (early‐, mid‐ and late‐). Setaria viridis , Stipa bungeana and Bothriochloa ischaemum were selected as representative and dominant early‐, mid‐ and late‐species, respectively, in the semiarid grassland of the Loess Plateau, China. Results The temporal variation in the PSF pattern was found to be species‐specific. Negative and neutral PSF patterns in early‐ and mid‐species, respectively, were found within the 3‐year growth periods. A positive PSF pattern for late‐species was found in the second growth period, and a negative PSF pattern was found in the third growth period. The shoot biomass of early‐species was overall positively correlated with soil nutrients and enzyme activity in the soil of the three species. However, the shoot biomass of late‐species was overall negatively correlated with soil nutrients and enzyme activity in early‐species soil. Conclusions We suggest that the negative PSF of early‐species over the growing period explains why the advantage of these early colonizers is temporary. In contrast, the positive PSF of late‐species likely contributes to their successful colonization and the entire community succession process. Our results indicated that PSF plays an important role in the progression of plant community succession.