An analytical treatment of root-to-shoot ratio and plant competition for soil nutrient and light

Low soil nutrient supply and disturbance rates favor successions from rooty to leafy species, and high soil nutrient supply and disturbance rates favor the converse. Light "consumption' by plants is fundamentally different from soil nutrient consumption in the authors' model. This difference in light and nutrient consumption makes all possible two-species equilibria unstable and leads to founder control. Founder control can result in arrested succession and contributes to community diversity. -from Authors