Root-inhabiting fungi in alien plant species in relation to invasion status and soil chemical properties

Abstract

In order to recognize interactions between alien vascular plants and soil microorganisms and thus better understand the mechanisms of plant invasions, we examined the mycorrhizal status, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization rate, arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) morphology and presence of fungal root endophytes in 37 non-native species in Central Europe. We also studied the AMF diversity and chemical properties of soils from under these species. The plant and soil materials were collected in southern Poland. We found that 35 of the species formed AM and their mycorrhizal status depended on species identity. Thirty-three taxa had AM of Arum-type alone. Lycopersicon esculentum showed intermediate AM morphology and Eragrostis albensis developed both Arum and Paris. The mycelia of dark septate endophytes (DSE) were observed in 32 of the species, while sporangia of Olpidium spp. were found in the roots of 10. Thirteen common and worldwide occurring AMF species as well as three unidentified spore morphotypes were isolated from trap cultures established with the soils from under the plant species. Claroideoglomus claroideum, Funneliformis mosseae and Septoglomus constrictum were found the most frequently. The presence of root-inhabiting fungi and the intensity of their colonization were not correlated with soil chemical properties, plant invasion status, their local abundance and habitat type. No relationships were also found between the presence of AMF, DSE and Olpidium spp. These suggest that other edaphic conditions, plant and fungal species identity or the abundance of these fungi in soils might have an impact on the occurrence and intensity of fungal root colonization in the plants under study.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13199-015-0324-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community assembly in the Brazilian tropical seasonal dry forest

“…As revealed by our study, soil properties (e.g., soil pH, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available P) were higher in the EXO soils compared with the NAT soils. These results are in agreement with previous work (Soumare et al 2015;Majewska et al 2015) that reported higher values of soil pH and available P in the root zone of invasive exotic plants, such as Acacia senegal, Acacia seyal, Acacia albida, Eragrostis albensis, and Olpidium spp. By altering the chemical properties of the soil below their canopy, invasive plant species may alter the nutrient cycle (Follstad Shah et al 2010) and thus may be responsible for the modification AMF community composition in the EXO soils (Zubek et al 2016;Zubek et al 2013).…”

Root fungal associations in some non-orchidaceous vascular lithophytes

“…This is similar to studies where a high proportion of dual colonization of AM and DSE fungi in roots of plant species examined have been reported (Massenssini et al 2014;Majewska et al 2015). Our observation of a negative correlation between %RLTC and %RLDTC is in agreement with studies where an inverse relationship between these fungal variables has been reported (Muthukumar et al 2006;Mandyam & Jumpponen 2008;Muthukumar & Tamilselvi 2010).…”

Differential influence of four invasive plant species on soil physicochemical properties in a pot experiment

“…plants change the abundance, diversity, and structure of plant and animal communities (Hejda et al 2009;Lenda et al 2013), and often considerably modify physicochemical and biological properties of the soil environment, thereby potentially affecting key ecosystem processes (Vilà et al 2011;Castro-Díez et al 2014;Majewska et al 2015;Stefanowicz et al 2016;Zubek et al 2016;Broadbent et al 2017;CastroDíez and Alonso 2017;Lavoie 2017;Rodríguez-Caballero et al 2017).…”