Abstract
Although there is a growing amount of evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) influence the decomposition process, the extent of their involvement remains unclear. Therefore, given this knowledge gap, our aim was to test how AMF influence the soil decomposer communities. Dual compartment microcosms, where AMF (Glomus mosseae) were either allowed access (AM+) to or excluded (AM−) from forest soil compartments containing litterbags (leaf litter from Calophyllum polyanthum) were used. The experiment ran for six months, with destructive harvests at 0, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days. For each harvest we measured AMF colonization, soil nutrients, litter mass loss, and microbial biomass (using phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA)). AMF significantly enhanced litter decomposition in the first 5 months, whilst delaying the development of total microbial biomass (represented by total PLFA) from T150 to T180. A significant decline in soil available N was observed through the course of the experiment for both treatments. This study shows that AMF have the capacity to interact with soil microbial communities and inhibit the development of fungal and bacterial groups in the soil at the later stage of the litter decomposition (180 days), whilst enhancing the rates of decomposition.
Highlights
There is a growing amount of evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) influence the decomposition process, the extent of their involvement remains unclear
Roots having no effect on the results. These reports highlight the potential roles of AMF in the decomposition process, yet there is still little evidence confirming the exact role of AMF in mediating the decomposition of organic material in the soil
Our aims were to investigate the impact of AMF on the decomposition rate of leaf litter in soils taken from a natural forest; and to determine how the microbial communities in these soils respond to the presence of AMF
Summary
There is a growing amount of evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) influence the decomposition process, the extent of their involvement remains unclear. Given this knowledge gap, our aim was to test how AMF influence the soil decomposer communities. Roots having no effect on the results These reports highlight the potential roles of AMF in the decomposition process, yet there is still little evidence confirming the exact role of AMF in mediating the decomposition of organic material in the soil. Our aims were to investigate the impact of AMF on the decomposition rate of leaf litter in soils taken from a natural forest; and to determine how the microbial communities in these soils respond to the presence of AMF. Our hypothesis being that AMF will enhance the rate of litter decomposition through increasing the activity levels of associated soil bacterial and fungal communities
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