Abstract
Sex-specific responses to mycorrhiza have been reported in dioecious plant species, but little attention has been paid to the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on competitive ability under intersexual competition. To further address whether this competition is affected by an additional AM fungi supply, Populus cathayana saplings were chosen and subjected to two mycorrhizal treatments [inoculated and non-inoculated (control) with an additional AM fungi Funneliformis mosseae] while growing with the opposite sex for 3 months. Compared with the control, the additional AM fungi inoculation induced P. cathayana saplings to exhibit significant sexual differences in root structure and nutrient uptake (e.g., cortical layer, cross-section area, radius of root tips, and N, K, and Mg content), and enlarged sexual differences in morphology and biomass accumulation (e.g., leaf number increment, shoot height increment, total leaf area, total specific root length, stem dry mass, leaf dry mass, and total dry mass). Meanwhile, inoculated females presented higher values in most of these traits mentioned above than males under intersexual competition. Therefore, we conclude that the intersexual competition can be increased by an additional AM fungi supply, with females gaining more symbiosis-mediated benefits than males.
Highlights
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi [e.g., Glomus (Phylum: Glomeromycota)] are a major factor contributing to the maintenance of plant biodiversity and to ecosystem functioning, and these fungi are known to form mutualistic symbiosis associating with the roots of more than 80% of terrestrial plant species and act as extensions of plant root systems (Akiyama et al, 2005)
Compared with non-inoculated saplings, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi enlarged the differences in basal diameter increment (BDI), shoot height increment (SHI), leaf number increment (LNI), and total leaf area (TLA) between female and male saplings, with females having significantly higher values of these traits than males (Table 1)
We found that the growth of male and female P. cathayana saplings was differentially altered by additional AM fungi inoculation under intersexual competition, which suggested that AM fungi were involved in triggering complex intersexual relationships in dioecious plants
Summary
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi [e.g., Glomus (Phylum: Glomeromycota)] are a major factor contributing to the maintenance of plant biodiversity and to ecosystem functioning (van der Heijden et al, 1998; Kapoor et al, 2008), and these fungi are known to form mutualistic symbiosis associating with the roots of more than 80% of terrestrial plant species and act as extensions of plant root systems (Akiyama et al, 2005). The studies mentioned above have examined the effects of AM fungi on inter-specific interactions, little attention has been paid to the intrinsic relationship between AM fungi and intersexual competition in dioecious plant species. Because there exist sex-specific responses to mycorrhiza in a dioecious species (e.g., Varga and Kytöviita, 2008, 2010b; Eppley et al, 2009; Rogers and Eppley, 2012; Varga, 2013), the intersexual interactions between male and female individuals should be affected by AM fungi. The current understanding of the AM fungi affecting intersexual competition in dioecious plants is still limited (see Sánchez-Vilas et al, 2011; Varga et al, 2017)
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