Fungal root colonization and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi diversity in soils of grasslands with different mowing intensities

Zubek, Szymon; Kapusta, Paweł; Rożek, Katarzyna; Błaszkowski, Janusz; Gielas, Igor; Nobis, Marcin; Świerszcz, Sebastian; Nowak, Arkadiusz

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104358

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Commercial AM fungal inoculum (PlantWorks, UK) containing a mix of AM fungal species ( Rhizophagus intraradices , Glomus microaggregatum , Diversispora spp., Funneliformis mosseae , Funneliformis geosporum and Entrophospora claroidea ) was used to inoculate the AM fungal community pots. This inoculum was selected to provide germinating seedings with the option of associating with a range of AM fungal symbionts that occur across UK and European grasslands (Zubek et al., 2022), while reducing the risk of contaminant MFRE propagules, which can be high in AM fungal inoculum derived from wild soil. Differences in the nutrient levels and bacterial communities in the carrier matrix/soil of the two inocula were controlled for across pots (Figure 1a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal symbiont diversity drives growth of Holcus lanatus depending on soil nutrient availability

Sinanaj,

Pressel,

Bidartondo

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi frequently colonise plant roots and can affect plant morphology and physiology through their contribution to plant nutrition. However, the functional role of AM fungi in the presence of other microbial symbionts, including widespread Mucoromycotina ‘fine root endophytes’ (MFRE) fungi, remains largely unknown. While both AM fungi and MFRE transfer nutrients, including nitrogen, from inorganic and organic sources to host plants, their combined effects on co‐colonised plants have only been investigated in liverworts. Here, we compare the morphology and physiology of the grass Holcus lanatus grown with an AM fungal community versus a more diverse symbiotic fungal community containing both AM fungi and MFRE. Holcus lanatus plants were grown in the presence of either a diverse MFRE+AM fungi soil inoculum or a multi‐species AM fungal inoculum. Plant traits associated with growth were quantified, along with fungal transfer of 15N tracer to plants from a variety of sources (ammonium chloride, alanine, glycine and algal necromass). Holcus lanatus grown with the AM fungal community had greater root and shoot growth during early development and prior to the addition of 15N‐labelled sources, compared with plants grown with the more diverse symbiotic fungal community. When nitrogen sources were made available to the fungal symbionts in the pot microcosms, plants growing with the MFRE+AM fungi soil inoculum had a faster growth rate than plants growing with the AM fungal community. At harvest, H. lanatus grown with the AM fungal community had a larger biomass, and there were no differences in 15N tracer assimilation in plants across the two fungal community treatments. Our results demonstrate that the diversity of fungal inocula in conjunction with soil nutrient availability determine the benefits derived by plants from diverse fungal symbionts. Our research contributes to understanding host plant outcomes in diverse multi‐symbiont scenarios. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal symbiont diversity drives growth of Holcus lanatus depending on soil nutrient availability

Sinanaj,

Pressel,

Bidartondo

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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“…AMF can establish symbioses with plants and expand its surface area to acquire nutrients to facilitate the transfer of soil nutrients to the plant (Bonfante & Genre, 2010). Recent studies have shown that the effects of mowing on AMF colonization can be either inhibitive or stimulative (Titus & Leps, 2000; Yang et al, 2018), as well as neutral (Zubek et al, 2022), due partly to the differences in plant community assembly. However, most studies that have linked root functional traits to AMF for nutrient acquisition have been undertaken in tree species (Chen, Koide, et al, 2016; Liu et al, 2015), while carboxylate exudation has predominantly been studied in crops (Wen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological and physiological traits of dominant plant species in response to mowing in a temperate steppe

Zhang

Bai

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

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Mowing is common grassland management to feed livestock during winter by harvesting hay in many high-latitude regions in autumn. The trait-based approach has been used to explain the responses of the plant community to disturbance resulting from environmental changes and human activities. However, few studies have focused on the mechanisms underlying the responses of grassland ecosystems to mowing from the perspective of plant traits. Here, we investigated the effects of mowing on the plant community of a temperate steppe in Inner Mongolia of northern China by field experiments to dissect the trade-off between morphological and physiological traits in response to shortterm (4 years) and long-term (16 years) mowing. Specifically, we evaluated the two strategies associated with the nutrient acquisition of two dominant species in response to mowing by measuring leaf and root morphological traits and physiological traits of root carboxylate exudation, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization and soil microbial community. We found that long-term mowing, but not short-term mowing, led to an increase in species richness. In addition, mowing decreased the overall plant biomass of the grassland community, but enhanced and suppressed the growth of forbs and grasses, respectively. However, the ratio of forbs to grasses in the community was dependent on mowing duration, such that forbs became more dominant than the grasses under long-term mowing. Our results revealed that short-term mowing reduced soil microbial biodiversity and root colonization of AMF in the grass Stipa krylovii, while the root AMF colonization and carboxylate exudation in the forb Artemisia frigida were enhanced by short-term mowing. In long-term mowing, the functional traits associated with leaf resource conservation (i.e., leaf tissue density) and root resource acquisition were reduced in the grass, while the functional traits related to leaf resource acquisition and root resource conservation were increased in the forb, highlighting the species specificity and divergence in leaf and root traits in the grass and forb of temperate steppe in response to mowing. These novel findings demonstrate that physiological and morphological strategies are the main drivers for dominant species in response to mowing in temperate grasslands.

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“…Studies on other forms of herbivory, such as grazing, have found variable impacts on soil AM fungal communities where intense grazing decreases diversity (Ba et al, 2012) while moderate or light grazing has little effect, or may even increase diversity (Ba et al, 2012;van der Heyde et al, 2017). Other forms of defoliation and damage, such as mechanical mowing in managed systems, are often found to have limited impacts on AM fungal diversity (Zubek et al, 2022), but can still influence interactions between AM fungi and plant communities (Qin et al, 2022). We are aware of only one study which has empirically examined the impacts of aboveground insect herbivory on root AM fungal diversity and composition (Wilkinson et al, 2019) where the authors found no changes in the richness of AM fungi in plant roots, but did observe an increase in community evenness in plants with insect herbivores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivory‐driven shifts in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community assembly: increased fungal competition and plant phosphorus benefits

Frew,

Öpik,

Oja

et al. 2023

New Phytologist

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Fungal root colonization and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi diversity in soils of grasslands with different mowing intensities

Cited by 13 publications

References 61 publications

Fungal symbiont diversity drives growth of Holcus lanatus depending on soil nutrient availability

Fungal symbiont diversity drives growth of Holcus lanatus depending on soil nutrient availability

Morphological and physiological traits of dominant plant species in response to mowing in a temperate steppe

Herbivory‐driven shifts in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community assembly: increased fungal competition and plant phosphorus benefits

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