Context dependence of grassland plant mycorrhizal response, University of Kansas, 2021

Many of the disturbance-sensitive, late successional plant species in grasslands respond to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi more positively via growth and establishment than plants that readily establish in disturbed areas (i.e. early successional species). Inoculation with AM fungi can therefore aid the establishment of late successional species in disturbed areas. If the differential benefit of AM fungi to late vs. early successional plants is context-dependent, however, this advantage could be diminished in high phosphorus (P) post-agricultural soils or in future climates with altered precipitation. In this greenhouse experiment, we tested if late successional plant species are less plastic in their reliance on AM fungi than early successional plants by growing 17 tallgrass prairie plant species of different successional status (9 early and 8 late successional) in full factorial combinations of inoculated or uninoculated with AM fungi, with ambient or high P levels, and with low or high levels of water.