Understorey plant community assemblage of Australian Eucalyptus woodlands under elevated CO2 is modulated by water and phosphorus availability

Aims Given the key functional role of understorey plant communities and the substantial extent of forest cover at the global scale, investigating understorey community responses to elevated CO₂(eCO₂) concentrations, and the role of soil resources in these responses, is important for understanding the ecosystem-level consequences of rising CO₂concentrations for forest ecosystems. Here, we evaluated how experimentally manipulating the availabilities of the two most limiting resources in an extremely phosphorus-limited eucalypt woodland in eastern Australia (i.e. water and phosphorus) can modulate the response of the understorey community to eCO₂in terms of germination, phenology, cover, community composition and leaf traits.