Alterations in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Community Along a Chronosequence of Teak (Tectona grandis) Plantations in Tropical Forests of China

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play a crucial role in promoting plant growth, enhancing plant stress resistance, and sustaining a healthy ecosystem. However, little is known about the mycorrhizal status of teak plantations. Here, we evaluated how the AM fungal communities of rhizosphere soils and roots respond to different stand ages of teak: 22, 35, 45, and 55-year-old from the adjacent native grassland (CK). A high-throughput sequencing method was used to compare the differences in soil and root AM fungal community structures. In combination with soil parameters, mechanisms driving the AM fungal community were revealed by redundancy analysis and the Mantel test. Additionally, spore density and colonization rates were analyzed. With increasing stand age, the AM fungal colonization rates and spore density increased linearly. Catalase activity and ammonium nitrogen content also increased, and soil organic carbon, total phosphorous, acid phosphatase activity, available potassium, and available phosphorus first increased and then decreased. Stand age significantly changed the structure of the AM fungal community but had no significant impact on the diversity of the AM fungal community. However, the diversity of the AM fungal community in soils was statistically higher than that in the roots. In total, nine and seven AM fungal genera were detected in the soil and root samples, respectively. The majority of sequences in soils and roots belonged to Glomus. Age-induced changes in soil properties could largely explain the alterations in the structure of the AM fungal community along a chronosequence, which included total potassium, carbon-nitrogen ratio, ammonium nitrogen, catalase, and acid phosphatase levels in soils and catalase, acid phosphatase, pH, and total potassium levels in roots. Soil nutrient availability and enzyme activity were the main driving factors regulating the shift in the AM fungal community structure along a chronosequence of the teak plantations.

Effects of intercropping teak with Alpinia katsumadai Hayata and Amomum longiligulare T.L. Wu on rhizosphere soil nutrients and bacterial community diversity, structure, and network

“…Teak is one of the more expensive tropical hardwoods, and is indigenous to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and India (Huang et al, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2021b ). It was introduced to China more than 170 years ago and is now distributed throughout tropical China (Yang et al, 2020 ).…”

Soil Bacterial Community Shifts Are Driven by Soil Nutrient Availability along a Teak Plantation Chronosequence in Tropical Forests in China

“…Teak ( Tectona grandis ), one of the most expensive hardwoods in the world, is naturally distributed in India, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand [ 34 ]. Teak was introduced into areas of tropical and southern subtropical China due to its increased economic and social value, since the 1990s [ 35 ]. Teak generally grows well in tropical and southern subtropical China, but often suffers from biotic and abiotic stressors, such as drought, low temperatures, and diseases.…”