Different mycorrhizal fungal strains determine plant community response to nitrogen and water availability |
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Authors: | Laura B Martínez‐García Raúl Ochoa‐Hueso Esteban Manrique Francisco I Pugnaire |
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Institution: | 1. Estación Experimental de Zonas áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Carretera de Sacramento s/n, La Ca?ada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain;2. Current address: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (Ce3C), Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749‐016, Lisboa, Portugal;3. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, New South Wales, 2751, Australia;4. Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Calle de José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain |
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Abstract: | Most research on the mycorrhizal positive–negative responsiveness continuum (or “mutualism–parasitism continuum”) has focused on individual plant species growing at different levels of P availability. Here, we explore this continuum in an experimental plant community inoculated with three arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal strains (both single and mixed) growing under four resource availability scenarios. These scenarios are a factorial combination of two levels of water and N availability. Each AM fungal strain had a different origin: an arid ecosystem, a farmland, and a mine. We hypothesized that the response of the plant community to mycorrhizal inoculum would depend on the associated AM fungal strain and would be negatively related with increased nitrogen and water availability. Our results showed that mixed‐strain AM fungal inoculation had more positive effects along a wider range of water and N availability scenarios than single‐strain inoculation. In contrast, mycorrhizal growth response of plants inoculated with a single AM fungal strain shifted from positive to neutral and negative depending on resource availability. Adaptation of each strain to its local conditions might confer different properties to the mycorrhizal symbiosis. Therefore, we conclude that AM fungal origin and environmental limiting resources are crucial factors to predict plant community mycorrhizal growth response in changing ecosystems. |
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Keywords: | mycorrhizal growth response mycorrhizal origin nutrient uptake resource‐availability scenarios positive– negative responsiveness continuum |
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