Ecological aspects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in different habitat types of a Brazilian mountainous area

Abstract

Increasing elevation affects many abiotic factors, such as a temperature decrease and an increase in radiation, as well as multiple biotic characteristics such as richness and composition of plant communities, both of which contribute to the formation of different habitats in mountainous landscapes. Both biotic and abiotic factors also affect belowground arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities, but there is scarce information available from tropical mountain ecosystems. The objective of this study was to determine the diversity and distribution of AM fungi in different mountainous habitat types in the Chapada Diamantina mountain range in Bahia (NE Brazil). Soil samples were collected in five habitats types: high‐altitude cerrado savannas (HAC), natural grasslands (GRA), gallery forests (GAF), in natural rocky rupestrian fields (shrublands; CAR) and in rocky, rupestrian field in the regeneration stage (CRR). A total of 49 AMF species were identified, of which Glomeraceae and Acaulosporaceae species were the most representative families. The AMF communities did not follow the shifts in plant communities. The composition of the AMF communities differed only between CAR and HAC and between CRR and GAF, while the other habitats had similar AMF communities. Our conclusion is that the AMF community assemblages in tropical mountains are related to the heterogeneity of habitats of these ecosystems. In our study, silt and coarse sand contents were the main factors related to the community composition of AMF in the different habitats.

Shifts in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition of Betula alnoides along young, middle-aged plantation and adjacent natural forest

“…The results of our study, including both the morphological identification of spores and molecular analysis, showed that Glomus and Acaulospora were the dominant taxa. These two genera have a high prevalence in most ecosystems (Da Silva et al 2015, De Pontes et al 2017, Pereira et al 2018, which is possibly due to the high adaptability of these AM fungal groups to different plant hosts, soil types, climatic conditions and other environmental characteristics (Vieira et al 2019).…”

Plant hosts may influence arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition in mangrove estuaries

“…Global arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) distribution patterns are influenced by dispersal and environmental factors (Öpik et al 2006Kivlin et al 2011;Vieira et al 2019). On a local scale, abundance and identity of host plants are key determinants of AMF community composition and distribution in different ecosystems (Sýkorová et al 2007;Hazard et al 2013;Jansa et al 2014;Torrecillas et al 2014;Martinez-Garcıa et al 2014;Davison et al 2016;Vieira et al 2019). Environmental variables such as soil pH, P, N, soil moisture and organic matter also influence AMF community composition (Bainard et al 2014;Deepika and Kothamasi 2015;Wang et al 2015a;Velázquez et al 2018).…”

Alterations of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Diversity in Soil with Elevation in Tropical Forests of China

“…AMF are widely considered to be the dominant mycorrhizal type in tropical ecosystems [12,13] and are widely claimed to play a fundamental role in nutrient uptake and the composition of tree regeneration [14]. Many studies on AMF composition and diversity have focused on ascertaining their status and identifying the driving forces in tropical mountains; however, these studies did not identify the role and importance of AMF in tropical forest ecosystems [15,16].…”