How mycorrhizal associations drive plant population and community biology

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6480) ◽  
pp. eaba1223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leho Tedersoo ◽  
Mohammad Bahram ◽  
Martin Zobel

Mycorrhizal fungi provide plants with a range of benefits, including mineral nutrients and protection from stress and pathogens. Here we synthesize current information about how the presence and type of mycorrhizal association affect plant communities. We argue that mycorrhizal fungi regulate seedling establishment and species coexistence through stabilizing and equalizing mechanisms such as soil nutrient partitioning, feedback to soil antagonists, differential mycorrhizal benefits, and nutrient trade. Mycorrhizal fungi have strong effects on plant population and community biology, with mycorrhizal type–specific effects on seed dispersal, seedling establishment, and soil niche differentiation, as well as interspecific and intraspecific competition and hence plant diversity.

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Bell ◽  
Kazutomo Yokoya ◽  
Jonathan P. Kendon ◽  
Viswambharan Sarasan

Cephalanthera rubra (L.) Rich., Red Helleborine, is a widespread orchid in Europe but known only from three very small populations in England. These populations are in decline with no natural seed setting for more than a decade. The species may become extinct in the UK soon unless viable strategies are in place for ex situ conservation, especially the use of symbiotic propagation. Because of the fragile nature of the populations in England mycorrhizal fungal diversity study is not feasible. Therefore, to understand the factors needed for healthy Red Helleborine populations, soil characteristics and diversity of culturable root-derived fungi of the populations from a small area in the Loire Valley in France were studied. The main objectives of the study were: (1) Which culturable mycorrhizal fungi associated with C. rubra roots and (2) To what extent is variation in fungal communities related to variation in soil characteristics? Here, we report a significant difference in diversity of culturable mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal fungi depending on soil pH and phosphorus content. Mycorrhizal associations were favoured by plants in locations with low soil nutrient availability and comparatively higher pH. Our study shows that mycorrhizal fungi, both ecto and endo, can be cultured from roots of plants at different maturity stages.


2000 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 1833-1841 ◽  
Author(s):  
EW van der Heijden ◽  
M Vosatka

Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations of Salix repens were studied at 16 sites in different successional stages of dune ecosystems (calcareous-acidic, dry-wet) in the Netherlands. High EcM colonization, low AM colonization, and lack of differences between habitats indicate that ectomycorrhizas do not increase their importance in later successional stages. EcM and AM colonization and plant-nutrient status indicate that the relative importance of P and N does not change during succession, but during seasons. Salix repens showed low levels of AM colonization but, nevertheless, even these low levels contributed to covering the P demands of the plant. As a decrease in AM colonization in S. repens at the end of the season coincided with a decrease in AM inoculum potential, the seasonal decline of arbuscular mycorrhiza is caused by changes in plant demand or soil nutrient availability rather than by interference by ectomycorrhiza. Regardless of seasonal shifts and possible interaction between ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza, both persist in the plant roots during seasons and throughout succession. Differences in the habitat preference of various EcM morphotypes and arbuscular mycorrhiza suggest that mycorrhizal diversity contributes to the broad ecological amplitude of S. repens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahareh Bicharanloo ◽  
Timothy R. Cavagnaro ◽  
Claudia Keitel ◽  
Feike A. Dijkstra

Plants spend a high proportion of their photosynthetically fixed carbon (C) belowground to support mycorrhizal associations in return for nutrients, but this C expenditure may decrease with increased soil nutrient availability. In this study, we assessed how the effects of nitrogen (N) fertiliser on specific root respiration (SRR) varied among mycorrhizal type (Myco type). We conducted a multi-level meta-analysis across 1,600 observations from 32 publications. SRR increased in ectomycorrhizal (ECM) plants with more than 100 kg N ha−1 applied, did not change in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and non-mycorrhizal (NM) plants, but increased in plants with a dual mycorrhizal association in response to N fertilisation. Our results suggest that high N availability (>100 kg N ha−1) could disadvantage the growth of ECM plants because of increased C costs associated with maintaining higher root N concentrations, while the insensitivity in SRR by AM plants to N fertilisation may be because AM fungi are more important for phosphorus (P) uptake.


Author(s):  
Yuan-Yuan Li ◽  
Margaux Boeraeve ◽  
Yu-Hsiu Cho ◽  
Hans Jacquemyn ◽  
Yung-I Lee

Mycorrhizal associations are essential for orchid germination and seedling establishment, and thus may constrain the distribution and abundance of orchids under natural conditions. Previous works have shown that germination and seedling establishment in several orchids often decline with increasing distance from adult plants, resulting in nonrandom spatial patterns of seedling establishment. In contrast, individuals of the fully mycoheterotrophic orchid Gastrodia confusoides often tend to have random spatial patterns of distribution within bamboo forests. Since G. confusoides is parasitic on litter-decaying fungi, its random spatial patterns of distribution may be due to highly scattered patterns of litter-decaying fungi within bamboo forests. To test this hypothesis, we first identified the main mycorrhizal fungi associating with developing seeds and adult plants using Miseq high-throughput sequencing. Next, we combined seed germination experiments with quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses to investigate to what extent the abundance of mycorrhizal fungi affected spatial patterns of seed germination. Our results show that seed germination and subsequent growth to an adult stage in G. confusoides required a distinct switch in mycorrhizal partners, in which protocorms associated with a single Mycena fungus, while adults associated with a fungus from the genus Gymnopus. A strong, positive relationship was observed between germination and Mycena abundance in the litter, but not between germination and Gymnopus abundance. Fungal abundance was not significantly related to the distance from the adult plants, and consequently germination was also not significantly related to the distance from adult plants. Our results provide the first evidence that the spatial distribution and abundance of litter-decaying fungi are distributed randomly within the bamboo forest and independently from G. confusoides adults.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Guillermo Bueno ◽  
John Davison ◽  
Daniela Leon ◽  
Yiming Meng ◽  
Maarja Öpik ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Reuter ◽  
Olga Ferlian ◽  
Mika Tarkka ◽  
Nico Eisenhauer ◽  
Karin Pritsch ◽  
...  

Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi play an important role for the nitrogen (N) supply of trees. The influence of different mycorrhizal types on N acquisition in tree-tree interactions is, however, not well understood, particularly with regard to the competition for growth-limiting N. We studied the effect of competition between temperate forest tree species on their inorganic and organic N acquisition in relation to their mycorrhizal type (i.e., arbuscular mycorrhiza or ectomycorrhiza). In a field experiment, we quantified net N uptake capacity from inorganic and organic N sources using 15N/13C stable isotopes for arbuscular mycorrhizal tree species (i.e., Acer pseudoplatanus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., and Prunus avium L.) as well as ectomycorrhizal tree species (i.e., Carpinus betulus L., Fagus sylvatica L., and Tilia platyphyllos Scop.). All species were grown in intra- and interspecific competition (i.e., monoculture or mixture). Our results showed that N sources were not used complementarily depending on a species´ mycorrhizal association, but their uptake rather depended on the competitor indicating species-specific effects. Generally, ammonium was preferred over glutamine and glutamine over nitrate. In conclusion, our findings suggest that inorganic and organic N acquisition of the studied temperate tree species is less regulated by mycorrhizal association, but rather by the availability of specific N sources in the soil as well as the competitive environment of different tree species.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1056-1060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon L. Rose

Endemic plants of the Sonoran Desert of Baja California were sampled for mycorrhizal associations. Eight of the 10 plant species examined were colonized by vesicular–arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal fungi. Soil sievings revealed chlamydospores of three VA mycorrhizal Glomus spp.; G. microcarpus, G. fasciculatus, and G. macrocarpus. At the time of sampling, the populations of VA fungal spores in the soil were low, with one to five chlamydospores per 100 g soil sample.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuhui Zhou ◽  
Lingyan Zhou ◽  
Yanghui He ◽  
Yuling Fu ◽  
Zhenggang Du ◽  
...  

Abstract Biomass allocation in plants is fundamental for understanding and predicting terrestrial carbon storage. Recent studies suggest that climate warming can differentially affect root and shoot biomass, and subsequently alter root: shoot ratio. However, warming effects on root: shoot ratio and their underlying drivers at a global scale remain unclear. Using a global synthesis of >300 studies, we here show that warming significantly increases biomass allocation to roots (by 13.1%), and two factors drive this response: mean annual precipitation of the site, and the type of mycorrhizal fungi associated with a plant. Warming-induced allocation to roots is greater in relatively drier habitats compared to shoots (by 15.1%), but lower in wetter sites (by 4.9%), especially for plants associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi compared to ectomycorrhizal fungi. Root-biomass responses to warming predominantly determine the biomass allocation in terrestrial plants suggesting that warming can reinforce the importance of belowground resource uptake. Our study highlights that the wetness or dryness of a site and plants’ mycorrhizal associations strongly regulate terrestrial carbon cycle by altering biomass allocation strategies in a warmer world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Enny Widyati

<p><strong>Abstrak.</strong> Seperti halnya dunia manusia, tumbuhan juga mengembangkan sistem komunikasi untuk mencapai kesejahteraan hidupnya. Bahasa yang digunakan adalah senyawa kimia yang diproduksi oleh eksudat akar. Tumbuhan merupakan inisiator karena mereka yang memiliki tujuan untuk apa komunikasi dibangun. Tumbuhan mengeluarkan eksudat akar untuk memanggil atau untuk mengusir mikroba yang diinginkan. Tumbuhan mengirim surat undangan pada beberapa mikroba dengan mensekresikan eksudat akar. Untuk membangun asosiasi mikoriza tumbuhan mengeluarkan gula, asam amino dan strigolakton. Hal tersebut akan dibalas oleh fungi dengan mengeluarkan senyawa flavonoid yang menunjukkan spesifikasi jenis inang-mikoriza. Hadirnya senyawa flavonoid merupakan undangan bagi rhizobium pada tanaman legum untuk membangun asosiasi. Tumbuhan akan menyeleksi rhizobium yang akan diajak berasosiasi dengan mensekresikan senyawa kanavanin yang bersifat toksik. Kesalahan dalam mengeluarkan eksudat akar merupakan surat undangan yang keliru bagi tumbuhan. Dosis senyawa stigolakton yang terlalu rendah tidak akan dapat membentuk asosiasi mikoriza tetapi yang berkembang adalah patogen. Walaupun tumbuhan menghasilkan senyawa fitoantisipin untuk mencegah serangan patogen dan fitoaleksin ketika patogen sudah menginfeksi. Komunikasi akar dengan akar tumbuhan lain dilakukan dengan menghasilkan senyawa alelopati untuk membatasi pertumbuhan akar di sekelilingnya yang dianggap sebagai pesaing. Tanaman invasif atau gulma umumnya selain menghasilkan alelopati juga memproduksi katekin yang dapat membunuh mikroba menguntungkan pada tumbuhan setempat. Akibatnya tumbuhan lokal akan rentan terhadap serangan penyakit dan berujung pada kematian. Selain alelopati, untuk merespon kehadiran tetangganya tumbuhan juga menghasilkan senyawa glukosinolat yang jumlahnya makin meningkat sejalan dengan tingginya biodiversitas vegetasi. Senyawa ini merupakan senyawa beracun bagi patogen, sehingga tumbuhan yang dibudidayakan dengan pola monokultur menjadi rentan terhadap penyakit. Oleh karena itu agar tanah tetap memiliki kandungan senyawa glukosinolat yang memadai serta tetap memelihara kondisi rhizosfir yang dinamis perlu dilakukan pergiliran tanaman varietas lokal setelah beberapa rotasi tanaman.</p><p><em><strong>Abstract.</strong> Similar to human, plants also develop a communication system to achieve their prosperity. Plants utilize chemical compounds of their root exudates as the “languange”. Plants are the initiator of communications, since they define the purposes of building communication. Root exudates are released either to attract or to demenish the soil microbes target as an “invitation letter” to some microbes. To build a mycorrhizal association, for examples, plants issue sugars, amino acids and strygolactones to the rhizosphere. Fungi will reply the invitation by secreting flavonoid compounds that determine host-mycorrhizal specifications. The presence of flavonoids is another invitation to rhizobia to establish association in legume rhizosphere. Plants will select attracted bacteria to build the most host-specific rhizobium association by secreting canavanine compounds that are toxic to non-target rhizobia. Occasionally, an error happened in issuing invitation. When plant release strygolactone in a very low dosages, it will be failure to build mycorrhizal associations otherwise pathogen colonizations, although plants produce either phytoantisipine to prevent pathogens infection or phytoalexin to counter infected pathogens. Communication among roots of neighboring plants is conducted by producing allellopathy compound to limit root growth of the competitors. Invasive plants or weeds generally also produce catechine compounds over the allellophaty that will eliminate soil beneficial microbes of the indigenous plants. As a result, the native plants will be vulnerable to disease and lead to distinct. Responding to the presence of neighboring roots, plants also produce glucosinolate compounds. Glucocynolate consentration will be increased in line with the richness of vegetation biodiversity. These compounds are toxic to the pathogen, which is why plants cultivated in monoculture become more susceptible to disease. Furthermore, to improve soil glucocynolate and to manage the dynamics in the rhizosphere, need to a shift cultivation after several rotations of a commodity with the local varieties.</em></p>


Author(s):  
Priyanka Kumari ◽  
R. R. Singh ◽  
Ruby Rani ◽  
Mahendra Singh ◽  
Uday Kumar

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) originated from South China, it is sub-tropical evergreen fruit crops, especially grown on the marginal climate of tropics and subtropics. It is delicious juicy fruit of India having excellent nutritional quality, pleasant flavoured, good amount of antioxidant and vitamins C, vitamin B-complex and phytonutrients flavonoids. It has a great potential to earn foreign exchange in the national and international market through export. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection is a common association between plant roots and microorganisms. It is responsible for increasing plant nutrient uptake and also increases in macro and micronutrients in leaf. Therefore, the present work has been analyzed macro and micro nutrients from soil and leaf, after 60, 90 and 120 days after inoculation of two bio-inoculants with phosphorus (SSP) including nine treatments with three replications. After 120 days of inoculation both the species of mycorrhizal combination with phosphorus application were very effective. Highest Copper content is (10.99 ppm), Zinc (33.17 ppm), Iron (121.47 ppm) and Manganese (15.33 ppm) was recorded in case T5 (G. mosseae 10 g + Phosphorus 50 mg kg-1 of soil) which is gradually increases. The soil nutrient content gradually decreased with time duration but no- significant difference was found among treatments after 120 days inoculation. After 120 days potting result was found that the Copper content is (1.70 ppm), Zinc (3.07 ppm), Iron (7.80 ppm) and Manganese (4.00 ppm) was recorded in case T5 (G. mosseae 10 g + Phosphorus 50 mg kg-1 of soil).this research was undertaken to find out whether Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection and phosphorus affect the micro-nutrient status of soil and leaves in nursery stage.


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