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Mycorrhizal dominance influences tree species richness and richness-biomass relationship in China’s forests
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Assessing biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: sample sites
The dataset represents data collected from a subset of the 200-point survey sites created for the Mycorrhiza study project. The project involves examination of soil samples for species richness, abundance, and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Comparisons between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community in the Phoenix metropolitan area and the surrounding desert are also being made.
Mycorrhizal diversity and effects on brittlebush in a Sonoran desert urban ecosystem
In this study, the functioning of AM fungi in brittlebush (Encelia farinosa A. Gray ex Torr.) grown at an urban site and a desert site are compared. E. farinosa is a native, desert shrub commonly found in the Sonoran Desert surrounding Phoenix and used as an ornamental shrub in residential and commercial sites in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Because this shrub is common in urban and desert areas, it can be used to compare AM fungal colonization levels between these areas. In addition, the impact of AM fungi on E. farinosa growth and reproductive output was studied by attempting to manipulate the levels of AM fungal colonization using the fungicide methyl-1-(butyl-carbamoyl)-2-benzimidazole (benomyl). This fungicide has been shown to suppress colonization of roots by AM fungi with little phytotoxicity or effect on soil nutrients (Fitter and Nichols 1988; Hartnett and Wilson 2002). Hartnett and Wilson (2002) stated that the best method available to assess the roles and functions of AM fungi in natural communities is through the use of fungicides such as benomyl. Treatment with benomyl should allow for comparisons between plants that have typical levels of mycorrhizal colonization and those with lower, suppressed levels of colonization. The impact of AM fungi on the productivity of brittlebush plants was examined at an urban and desert site. Fungal colonization was greater at the desert site but biomass and reproductive output was higher at the urban site. When mycorrhizal colonization was suppressed, plants had greater vegetative growth, but there was no effect on reproductive output.
Health and mycorrhizal colonization response of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) seedlings to calcium addition in Watershed 1 at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
We examined the health and mycorrhizal colonization rates of sugar maple germinants on a Calcium (Ca)- treated watershed at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and compared their status to the health of seedlings growing on reference sites. We quantified general sugar maple germinant health by height, leaf area, biomass, and chlorophyll content. To determine vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization rates, we first cleared and stained germinant roots and then examined their structures microscopically. We found that sugar maple seedlings on the Ca-addition site were taller, had larger leaves, more root, leaf, and stem biomass, and more chlorophyll per unit leaf area. These seedlings also had a significantly larger percentage of their roots colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Our results indicate a correlation between soil Ca availability, mycorrhizal colonization rates, and overall seedling health. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Data from: Contrasting effects of host identity, plant community, and local species pool on the composition and colonisation levels of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community in a temperate grassland
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important plant symbionts, but we know little about the effects of plant taxonomic identity or functional group on the AMF community composition. To examine effects of the surrounding plant community, of host, and of the AMF pool on the AMF community in plant roots, we manipulated plant community composition in a long-term field experiment. Within four types of manipulated grassland plots, seedlings of eight grassland plant species were planted for 12 weeks, and AMF in their roots were quantified. Additionally, we characterised the AMF community of individual plots (as their AMF pool) and quantified plot abiotic conditions. The largest determinant of AMF community composition was the pool of available AMF, varying at metre scale due to changing soil conditions. The second strongest predictor was the host functional group. The differences between grasses and dicotyledonous forbs in AMF community variation and diversity were much larger than the differences among species within those groups. High cover of forbs in the surrounding plant community had a strong positive effect on AMF colonisation intensity in grass hosts. Using a manipulative field experiment enabled us to demonstrate direct causal effects of plant host and surrounding vegetation.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis increases P uptake and productivity of mixtures of maize varieties compared to monocultures
<p>Ecological intensification seeks to achieve crop yield increases through intensifying complementary or facilitative interactions between plant species or varieties. Different species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) exhibit niche differentiation and show selectivity towards certain plants, which can further enhance complementarity. It is not clear whether in the presence of one AMF species, where mycelial networks connect crop species, opportunities for complementarity effects may be reduced.</p> <p>We grew monocultures and mixtures of maize varieties in a greenhouse with one species of AMF, Funneliformis mosseae, during two consecutive years to investigate whether under such conditions the mycorrhizal symbiosis would affect complementarity and overyielding compared to non-mycorrhizal plants.</p> <p>Variety mixtures showed increased phosphatase activity and mycorrhizal colonization, enhanced P-uptake and overyielding when plants were mycorrhizal. There was no overyielding when plants were non-mycorrhizal. The increase in relative yield total was due to complementarity effects.</p> <p>Our data show that the magnitude of mycorrhiza-induced overyielding in maize variety mixtures can be similar to that reported for plant species mixtures. Our study implies that appropriate agricultural management that enhances the mycorrhizal fungal contribution to ecosystem services may result in overyielding in yield or P uptake through mixing varieties of one crop species.</p>
Dark septate endophytes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Paris-morphotype) affect the stable isotope composition of 'classically' non-mycorrhizal plants
<p>The vast majority of terrestrial plants exchange nutrients with fungal partners forming different mycorrhizal types. The minority of plants considered as non-mycorrhizal, however, are not necessarily free of any fungi, but are frequently colonized by elusive fungal endophytes, such as <i>dark septate endophytes</i> (<i>DSE</i>) or <i>fine root endophytes</i> (<i>FRE</i>). While a functional role of <i>FRE</i> in improvement of nutrient gain was recently elucidated, the function of <i>DSE</i> is still in discussion and was here addressed for 36 plant species belonging to the families Equisetaceae, Cypereaceae and Caryophyllaceae.</p> <p>Molecular and microscopic staining approaches were conducted to verify the presence of <i>DSE</i> in the investigated species. Stable isotope natural abundances of the elements carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen and total nitrogen concentrations were analyzed for the respective species of the target plant families and accompanying mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal (Brassicaceae) plant species.</p> <p>Staining approaches confirmed the presence of <i>DSE</i> in all investigated species within the families Equisetaceae, Cyperaceae and Caryophyllaceae. A co-colonization with <i>Paris</i>-type arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) was occasionally found by staining and molecular approaches in species of the Equisetaceae. Species of the Equisetaceae, Cyperaceae and Caryophyllaceae were significantly <sup>15</sup>N-enriched in comparison to accompanying plants. In addition, a significant <sup>13</sup>C and <sup>2</sup>H enrichment and increased total nitrogen concentrations were found for representatives of the Equisetaceae.</p> <p>The <sup>15</sup>N-enrichment found here for representatives of Equisetaceae, Cyperaceae and Caryophyllaceae provides evidence for a functional role of the ubiquitous <i>DSE</i> fungi. <i>DSE</i> fungi obviously provide access to <sup>15</sup>N-enriched soil organic compounds probably in exchange for organic carbon compounds from plant photosynthesis. As indicated by additional <sup>13</sup>C- and <sup>2</sup>H-enrichments, representatives of the Equisetaceae apparently gain simultaneously organic carbon compounds from their AM fungi of the <i>Paris</i>-morphotype. Thus, species of the Equisetaceae have to be considered as partially, or in case of the achlorophyllous fertile Equisetum arvense, as fully mycoheterotrophic at least in some stages of their life cycle.</p> <p>So far mostly underappreciated fungi classified as <i>DSE</i> are suggested to occupy an ecologically relevant role similar to mycorrhizae and the occurrence of simultaneous functions of <i>DSE</i> and AM fungi in Equisetaceae is proposed.</p>
Data from: Similarity in mycorrhizal communities associating with two widespread terrestrial orchids decays with distance
Aim: Interactions with mycorrhizal fungi are increasingly recognized as an important factor underlying the distribution and abundance of orchid species. However, the geographic distribution of orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF) and how their communities vary over large geographical areas are less well understood. Because climatic and environmental similarity may decrease with geographical distance or because some OMF have limited dispersal capabilities, similarities in orchid mycorrhizal communities can be expected to decrease with increasing distances separating orchid populations. However, up till now empirical evidence is largely lacking. Location: Eurasia Taxa: Gymnadenia conopsea (L.) R. Brown and Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz Methods: High-throughput sequencing was used to perform a cross-continental comparison of OMF that associate with two widespread Eurasian terrestrial orchids, Epipactis helleborine and Gymnadenia conopsea. Both phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic measures of community dissimilarity and their components were calculated and related to geographic distances using Mantel tests. Results: Our results showed that in both orchid species similarity in mycorrhizal communities decreased significantly with geographical distance. Decomposing the contribution of spatial turnover and nestedness to overall dissimilarity showed that the observed dissimilarity was mainly the result of species replacement between regions, and not of species loss. Similarly, a strong relationship was observed between phylogenetic community dissimilarity and geographic distance. Decomposing PCD values into a nonphylogenetic and phylogenetic component showed that orchid populations located closely next to each other were likely to contain the same OTUs, but that the non-shared taxa came from different phylogenetic clades. Species indicator analyses showed that the majority of OMF OTUs were restricted to particular geographic areas. However, some OTUs occurred in both continents, indicating that some fungi have very wide distributions. Main conclusions: Overall, these results demonstrate that orchid mycorrhizal communities differ substantially across large geographic areas, but that the distribution of orchids is not necessarily restricted by the distribution of particular OMF. Hence, widespread orchid species can be considered mycorrhizal generalists that are flexible in the OMF with which they associate across large geographic areas.
Sympatric pairings of dryland grass populations, mycorrhizal fungi, and associated soil biota enhance mutualism and ameliorate drought stress
<p>1. There is evidence that the distribution of ecotypes of plants and their symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and other associated soil biota may be structured by the availability of essential soil nutrients; and that locally adapted partnerships most successfully acquire limiting nutrients. This study tests the hypotheses that plant genotypes are adapted to the water availability of their local environment, and this adaptation involves associations with local soil biota, including AM fungi. </p> <p>2. We grew semi-arid Bouteloua gracilis ecotypes from relatively wet and dry sites, with either sympatric or allopatric soil inoculum under moderate and extreme soil drying treatments to examine 1) how varying degrees of water limitation influence grass responses to soil biota, and 2) the relationship between AM fungal structures and these responses. </p> <p>3. Under extreme soil drying, the dry-site ecotype tended to perform better than the wet-site ecotype. Both ecotypes performed best in either drying treatment when inoculated with their sympatric soil biota. Sympatric pairings produced more AM fungal hyphae, arbuscules and dark septate fungi. Extreme soil drying tended to accentuate these apparent benefits of sympatry to both plants and fungal symbionts, relative to the moderate drying treatment. </p> <p>4. Our findings support the hypothesis that AM symbioses help Bouteloua gracilis ecotypes adapt to local water availability. This conclusion is based on the observations that as water became increasingly limited, sympatric partnerships produced more AM fungal hyphae and arbuscules and fewer vesicles. The abundances of hyphae and arbuscules were positively correlated with plant growth, suggesting that in sympatric pairs of plants and AM fungi, allocation to fungal structures is optimized to maximize benefits and minimize the costs of the symbioses. This provides strong evidence that co-adaptation among plants and their associated AM fungi can ameliorate drought stress.</p> <p>5. Synthesis: Our study documents the role of locally adapted soil borne plant symbionts in ameliorating water stress. We found a relationship between AM fungal structures in roots and plant performance. Generally, plants and fungi from the same site resulted in more positive effects on plant growth.</p>
Data from: Mycorrhizal suppression and phosphorus addition influence the stability of plant community composition and function in a temperate steppe
<p>Nutrient enrichment can reduce ecosystem stability, typically measured as the temporal stability of productivity that has multiple underlying mechanism including species resistance and resilience to nutrient pulses and the resulting compositional change. Moreover, nutrient enrichment can alter plant-soil interactions (e.g. mycorrhizal symbiosis) that determine plant productivity and diversity. Thus, it is likely that nutrient enrichment and interactions between plants and their soil communities co-determine the stability in plant community composition and productivity. Yet our understanding as to how nutrient enrichment affects the multiple facets of ecological stability and the role of above-belowground interactions are still lacking.</p> <p>We tested how mycorrhizal suppression and phosphorus (P) addition influenced functional and compositional stability of plant community in a three-year field study. Here functional stability is the temporal community variance in primary productivity; compositional stability is represented by compositional resistance, turnover, species extinction and invasion.</p> <p>Compared with mycorrhizal suppression, the intact AM fungal communities reduced community variance in primary productivity by reducing species synchrony at high levels of P addition. Species synchrony and population variance were linearly associated with community variance when mycorrhiza were not suppressed, while these relationships were decoupled or weakened by mycorrhizal suppression. The intact AM fungal communities promoted the compositional resistance of plant communities by reducing compositional turnover, but this effect was suppressed by P addition. P addition increased the number of species extinctions and thus promoted compositional turnover.</p> <p>Our study shows P addition and AM fungal communities can jointly and independently modify the various components of ecosystem stability in terms of plant community productivity and composition.</p>
Modelling mycorrhizal fungi dispersal by the mycophagous swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)
<p>Despite the importance of mammal-fungal interactions, tools to estimate the mammal-assisted dispersal distances of fungi are lacking. Many mammals actively consume fungal fruiting bodies, the spores of which remain viable after passage through their digestive tract. Many of these fungi form symbiotic relationships with trees and provide an array of other key ecosystem functions. We present a flexible, general model to predict the distance a mycophagous mammal would disperse fungal spores. We modelled the probability of spore dispersal by combining animal movement data from GPS-telemetry with data on spore gut-retention time. We test this model using an exemplar generalist mycophagist, the swamp wallaby (<i>Wallabia bicolor</i>). We show that swamp wallabies disperse fungal spores hundreds of metres—and occasionally up to 1265 m—from the point of consumption, distances that are ecologically significant for many mycorrhizal fungi. In addition to highlighting the ecological importance of swamp wallabies as dispersers of mycorrhizal fungi in eastern Australia, our simple modelling approach provides a novel and effective way of empirically describing spore dispersal by a mycophagous animal. This approach is applicable to the study of other animal-fungi interactions in other ecosystems.</p>
Tree mycorrhizal type mediates the strength of negative density dependence in temperate forests
<p>1. Recent plant-soil feedback experiments suggest that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) tree species experience stronger conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) than ectomycorrhizal (EM) tree species. Yet how these findings inform our understanding of natural systems is limited because the roles of local soil conditions, light environments and tree species abundances in influencing CNDD for AM and EM species are not clear.</p> <p>2. Here we examined seedling and sapling survival in two temperate old-growth forests (broadleaved pine and spruce-fir forests) in Northeast China, to evaluate the effects of both conspecific and heterospecific neighbour density, as well as the soil and light environments, on the survival of AM and EM-dependent trees at early life stages.</p> <p>3. While light availability increased the survival of EM seedlings, soil organic resources increased EM sapling survival in the spruce-fir plot. AM seedlings suffered stronger CNDD than did EM seedlings in both plots. In the spruce-fir plot, soil factors and light availability mediated species CNDD but their effects differed for AM and EM species, and also between seedlings and saplings. For seedlings in both plots, we found that AM species exhibited a positive relationship between species abundance and CNDD strength, whereas this relationship was negative for EM species.</p> <p>4.<i> Synthesis</i>. Our results provide one of the few tests of how fungal symbioses determine species responses to intra- and interspecific interactions and the direct effects of local environmental conditions on seedling and sapling survival. We show that mycorrhizal type mediates the strength of CNDD and its relationship with species abundance. These results suggest that tree mycorrhizal association can determine the strength of CNDD effects on both rare and common species, and these CNDD differences are likely to influence the community composition of temperate forests.</p>
Mycorrhizal phosphorus efficiencies and microbial competition drive root P uptake
<p>Phosphorus (P) availability shows large differences among different soil types, affecting P nutrition of forest trees. Chemical binding of P to soil moieties affects partitioning of P between soil particles and solution, affecting soluble P concentrations upon which plants, their associated mycorrhizal symbionts, and microbes feed. The goal of this study was to characterize root P uptake by mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal root tips in competition with microbes <i>in situ</i> in the organic and mineral layer of a P-rich and a P-poor forest. We used intact soil cores (0.2m depth) from beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i>) forests to tracing the fate of <sup>33</sup>P in soil, plant and microbial fractions. We used the dilution of <sup>33</sup>P in the rhizosphere of each soil layer to estimate the enrichment with new P in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal root tips and root P uptake. In soil cores from P-rich conditions, 25% and 75% of root P uptake occurred in the organic and mineral layer, respectively, whereas in the P-poor forest, 60% occurred in the organic and 40% in the mineral layer. Mycorrhizal P efficiency, determined as enrichment of new P in mycorrhizal root tips, differed between soil layers. Root P uptake was correlated with mycorrhizal P efficiency and root tip abundance but not with root tip abundance as a single factor. This finding underpins the importance of the regulation of mycorrhizal P acquisition for root P supply. The composition of mycorrhizal assemblages differed between forests but not between soil layers. Therefore, differences in P efficiencies resulted from physiological adjustments of the symbionts. Non-mycorrhizal root tips were rare and exhibited lower enrichment with new P than mycorrhizal root tips. Their contribution to root P supply was negligible. Microbes were strong competitors for P in P-poor but not in P-rich soil. Understory roots were present in the P-rich soil but did not compete for P. Our results uncover regulation of mycorrhizal P efficiencies and highlight the complexity of biotic and abiotic factors that govern P supply to trees in forest ecosystems.</p>
Data from: Shifts in plant community composition weaken the negative effect of nitrogen addition on community-level arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization
Nitrogen addition affects plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) association greatly. However, although the direct effect of nitrogen addition on AMF colonization has received investigation, its indirect effect through shifts in plant community composition has never been quantified. Based on a 7-year nitrogen addition experiment in an alpine meadow of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, we investigated the effects of nitrogen addition on both plant community, AMF diversity and colonization, and disentangled the direct and indirect effects of nitrogen addition on community AMF colonization. At plant species level, nitrogen addition significantly decreased root colonization rate and altered AMF community composition, but with no significant effect on AMF richness. At plant community level, plant species richness and AMF colonization rate decreased with nitrogen addition. Plant species increasing in abundance after nitrogen addition were those with higher AMF colonization rates in natural conditions, resulting in an increased indirect effect induced by alternation in plant community composition with nitrogen addition, whereas the direct effect was negative and decreased with nitrogen addition. Overall, we illustrated the effect of nitrogen addition and plant species in influencing the AMF diversity, and demonstrated how shifts in plant community composition (indirect effect) weakened the negative direct effect of nitrogen addition on community-level AMF colonization rate, and emphasized the importance of plant community-mediated mechanisms in regulating ecosystem functions.
Single and mixed arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species inocula have a different effect on the growth and oxidative stress defense in Lolium perenne exposed to phenol and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
<p>Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous mutualistic plant symbionts which promote plant growth and protect them from abiotic stresses. Studies on AMF-assisted phytoremediation have shown that AMF can increase plant tolerance to the presence of hydrocarbon contaminants by improving plant nutrition status and mitigating oxidative stress. This work aimed to evaluate the impact of single-species or mixed-species AMF inocula, obtained from the contaminated environment (<i>Funneliformis caledonium</i>, <i>Diversispora varaderana</i>, <i>Claroideoglomus walkeri</i>), on a growth, oxidative stress (DNA oxidation and lipid peroxidation) and activity of antioxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase) in <i>Lolium perenne</i> cultured in a substrate contaminated with 0/0 - 30/120 mg phenol/polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) kg<sup>-1</sup>. The assessment of AMF resistance to the presence of contaminants was based on mycorrhizal root colonization, spore production, the level of oxidative stress and antioxidative activity in AMF spores. In contrast to the mixed-species AMF inoculum, single AMF species significantly enhanced the growth of host plants cultured in the contaminated substrate. Their effect on the level of oxidative stress and the activity of antioxidative enzymes in plant tissues differed between the AMF species. Changes in the level of oxidative stress and the activity of antioxidative enzymes in AMF spores in response to contamination also depended on AMF species. Although, the concentration of phenol and PAHs had a negative effect on the production of AMF spores, low (5/20 mg phenol/PAHs kg<sup>-</sup>1) and substrate (15/60 mg phenol/PAHs kg<sup>-1</sup>) contamination stimulated the mycorrhizal colonization of roots. Among the studied AMF species, <i>F. caledonium</i> was the most resistant to phenol and PAHs and showed the highest potential in plant growth promotion. Adverse effects of mixed AMF inoculum on <i>L. perenne</i> growth might result from the competitive associations between the AMF species and excessive development of <i>C. walkeri</i>. Presented results might contribute to the development of functionally customized strategies of AMF-assisted phytoremediation with indigenous AMF inocula, adapted to form mycorrhizal associations in the presence of contaminants, which might enhance phytoremediation more effective than commercial AMF inocula.</p>
The mycorrhizal community of the epiphytic orchid Thrixspermum japonicum is strongly biased toward a single Ceratobasidiaceae fungus, despite a wide range of fungal partners
<p>PREMISE: Orchids depend primarily on mycorrhizal fungi to obtain nutrients throughout their life cycle. Epiphytic orchids account for 69% of orchid diversity. The unstable availability of water and nutrients in their arboreal habitats often results in severe water and nutrient stresses. Consequently, mycorrhizal associations may be important for the survival of epiphytic orchids, but our understanding thereof remains limited. Here, we investigated the mycorrhizal community in a single epiphytic orchid species, using more samples than in any previous study.</p> <p>METHODS: We assessed the mycorrhizal communities of Thrixspermum japonicum, one of the most common epiphytic orchids in the temperate region of Japan. In total, 144 individuals were collected from 28 host tree species at 20 sites across 1300 km. The mycorrhizal fungi were identified based on nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences and assigned operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 97% sequence similarity.</p> <p>RESULTS: We obtained 24 OTUs, of which 9 and 15 belonged to the Ceratobasidiaceae and Tulasnellaceae, respectively. These OTUs are widely distributed throughout the phylogenetic trees of the two fungal families. However, a single Ceratobasidiaceae OTU accounted for 49.7% of all fungal sequences and was predominant in samples from 15 host tree species and 12 sites.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS: Our results imply that despite having a broad range of mycorrhizal partners, T. japonicum was predominantly associated with a single fungal taxon at most of the sites among the host-tree species investigated. These findings contribute to elucidating mycorrhizal symbiosis in epiphytic ha</p>
Data from: Earthworms affect growth and competition between ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal plants
Previous research showed that during intermediate stages of primary succession, when vegetation is dominated by ectomycorrhizal (EcM) shrubs and trees, site colonization by earthworms substantially alters plant communities. Research has also shown that EcM shrubs and trees suppress arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants in the understory. To determine whether earthworm activity reduces this asymmetric competition, we conducted a full factorial laboratory experiment in which we grew EcM Betula pendula and AM Tripleurospermum inodorum, together or apart, in soils affected or not affected by earthworms. When both plants were grown together in soil unaffected by earthworms, growth of T. inodorum was significantly reduced by competition with B. pendula, but B. pendula growth was not reduced by T. inodorum. In soil affected by earthworms, the growth of both species was increased, and the negative effect of B. pendula on T. inodorum was no longer statistically significant (P < 0.05). These data indicate that earthworms weaken the asymmetric competition between EcM and AM plants. Consistent with this inference, EcM colonization of B. pendula was decreased and AM fungal bioassay in soil was increased by earthworms.
Data from: An exotic invader drives the evolution of plant traits that determine mycorrhizal fungal diversity in a native competitor.
The symbiosis between land plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is one of the most widespread and ancient mutualisms on the planet. However, relatively little is known about the evolution of these symbiotic plant-fungal interactions in natural communities. In this study, we investigated the symbiotic AMF communities of populations of the native plant species Pilea pumila (Urticaceae) with varying histories of coexistence with an non-mycorrhizal invasive species, Alliaria petiolata (Brassicaceae), known to affect mycorrhizal communities. We found that native populations of P. pumila with a long history of coexistence with the invasive species developed more diverse symbiotic AMF communities. This effect was strongest when A. petiolata plants were actively growing with the natives, and in soils with the longest history of A. petiolata growth. These results suggest that despite the ancient and widespread nature of the plant-AMF symbiosis, the plant traits responsible for symbiotic preferences can nevertheless evolve rapidly in response to environmental changes.
Data from: Spatial soil heterogeneity has a greater effect on symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and plant growth than genetic modification with Bacillus thuringiensis toxin genes
Maize, genetically modified with the insect toxin genes of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), is widely cultivated, yet its impacts on soil organisms are poorly understood. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbiotic associations with plant roots and may be uniquely sensitive to genetic changes within a plant host. In this field study, the effects of nine different lines of Bt maize and their corresponding non-Bt parental isolines were evaluated on AMF colonization and community diversity in plant roots. Plants were harvested 60 days after sowing, and data were collected on plant growth and per cent AMF colonization of roots. AMF community composition in roots was assessed using 454 pyrosequencing of the 28S rRNA genes, and spatial variation in mycorrhizal communities within replicated experimental field plots was examined. Growth responses, per cent AMF colonization of roots and AMF community diversity in roots did not differ between Bt and non-Bt maize, but root and shoot biomass and per cent colonization by arbuscules varied by maize cultivar. Plot identity had the most significant effect on plant growth, AMF colonization and AMF community composition in roots, indicating spatial heterogeneity in the field. Mycorrhizal fungal communities in maize roots were autocorrelated within approximately 1 m, but at greater distances, AMF community composition of roots differed between plants. Our findings indicate that spatial variation and heterogeneity in the field has a greater effect on the structure of AMF communities than host plant cultivar or modification by Bt toxin genes.
Data from: Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on aboveground tri-trophic interactions are contingent upon plant genetic effects of cross type in the perennial herb Ruellia nudiflora
1.- Recent work has improved our understanding of the linkages between above- and below-ground interactions mediated by plants. However, relatively few of the studies conducted thus far have focused on muli-trophic interactions (i.e. beyond two trophic levels) and the influence of plant genetic intra-specific variation on these dynamics has rarely been addressed. 2.- We tested the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on above-ground tri-trophic interactions associated with the canopy of the perennial herb <i></i>Ruellia nudiflora<i></i>, and further determined whether genetic effects due to cross type (i.e. wether a plant originated from from self- or cross-pollination) influenced these interactions. 3.- We propagated plants originating from self- or cross-pollination, and within each category inoculated half of the plants with AMF. We subsequently established a common garden where plants were exposed to naturally occurring seed-eating caterpillars and their parasitoids. We measured plant growth, fruit output, calculated the proportion of attacked fruits by the caterpillar and the proportion of parasitized caterpillars, and also estimated the proportion of "rescued" seeds by parasitoids representing an indirect positive effect of the third trophic level on the plant by reducing caterpillar consumption. 4.- AMF drove 18% and 15% increases in plant growth and fruit output respectively, and drove a 25% reduction in caterpillar fruit attack, but did not influence parasitism or parasitoid seed "rescue". In contrast, cross type did not influence growth, fruit number, herbivore attack, parasitism, or seed rescue. More importantly, however, we found a significant AMF by cross type interaction on caterpillar attack where AMF significantly reduced fruit attack (by 30%) in progeny from cross-pollination but did not influence herbivory in progeny from self-pollination. 5.- Synthesis. Results indicate that AMF effects on above-ground interactions are contingent upon plant intra-specific variation originating from cross type, which is likely a common source of variation in associated interactions for plants with mixed mating systems. Further studies examining plant-mediated below- and aboveground interactions should consider the influence of specific sources of plant genetic variation, as well as address the consequences of such dynamics for interactions beyond two trophic levels.
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