Bromus tectorum alters mycorrhizal fungal communities and disrupts mutualism

<p class="MsoNormal">Exotic plant invasions alter native plant productivity and ecosystem function. Mechanisms of plant invasions can include altered disturbance regimes or altered plant-soil feedbacks. Some important hypotheses regarding the invasion of cheatgrass in North America include pathogen spillover and mutualism disruption. Since an important mutualistic interaction in ecosystems is that of mycorrhizal fungi, here we test the mutualism disruption hypothesis by closely examining mycorrhizal allocation and community composition. We conducted a greenhouse study where we grew a native perennial grass in association with invaded and uninvaded soils. We found altered mycorrhizal communities and mycorrhizal allocation patterns associated with cheatgrass-invaded soils supporting the mutualism disruption hypothesis.</p>