Species richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: associations with grassland plant richness and biomass

Abstract

SummaryAlthough experiments show a positive association between vascular plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) species richness, evidence from natural ecosystems is scarce. Furthermore, there is little knowledge about how AMF richness varies with belowground plant richness and biomass.We examined relationships among AMF richness, above-and belowground plant richness, and plant root and shoot biomass in a native North American grassland. Root-colonizing AMF richness and belowground plant richness were detected from the same bulk root samples by 454-sequencing of the AMF SSU rRNA and plant trnL genes.In total we detected 63 AMF taxa. Plant richness was 1.5 times greater belowground than aboveground. AMF richness was significantly positively correlated with plant species richness, and more strongly with below-than aboveground plant richness. Belowground plant richness was positively correlated with belowground plant biomass and total plant biomass, whereas aboveground plant richness was positively correlated only with belowground plant biomass. By contrast, AMF richness was negatively correlated with belowground and total plant biomass.Our results indicate that AMF richness and plant belowground richness are more strongly related with each other and with plant community biomass than with the plant aboveground richness measures that have been almost exclusively considered to date.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal dynamics following change of land use from mature forest to Eucalyptus plantation

“…The results of the present study therefore indicate that there is a positive relationship between the above-ground plant diversity and the diversity and abundance of below-ground AMF. In support of the present findings, Hiiesalu et al (2014) had revealed that the AMF spore richness and abundance are positively correlated with plant species richness.…”

Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland

“…Previous study showed that relationships between plant biomass and soil fungal diversity varied with the seasonal dynamics of soil fungal community composition and of plant biomass production (Hiiesalu et al. 2014). In our study, the positive correlation between soil fungal richness and plant biomass in simple linear regression might be indirectly formed by soil gradient, because soil fungal richness and plant biomass are positively associated with soil gradient.…”

“…2011) and negative effects (Hiiesalu et al. 2014). Concurrently, many studies have also suggested that soil fungal diversity is strongly dependent on soil properties (Prevost‐Boure et al.…”

Tree diversity and species identity effects on soil fungi, protists and animals are context dependent

“…Such bottom-up relationships among diversity of food-web organisms occur both aboveground and belowground and are reflected along the trophic cascades (Scherber et al, 2010;Eisenhauer et al, 2013; but see Porazinska et al, 2003). Recent studies on natural grassland plants showed that plant species richness is positively correlated with that of several major fungal groups on a local scale (Hiiesalu et al, 2014;Pellissier et al, 2014). Richness of free-living protists, meiofauna and saprotrophic fungi may similarly benefit from specialization on different sources of food or substrate for decomposition.…”

“…Nearly all previous biodiversity studies have used traditional morphology-based identification methods to determine the richness of consumers (but see Hiiesalu et al, 2014;Pellissier et al, 2014). This approach requires substantial taxonomic expertise and long processing time given the large number of samples and individuals (Scherber et al, 2010).…”