Abstract
Vegetation impacts on ecosystem functioning are mediated by mycorrhizas, plant–fungal associations formed by most plant species. Ecosystems dominated by distinct mycorrhizal types differ strongly in their biogeochemistry. Quantitative analyses of mycorrhizal impacts on ecosystem functioning are hindered by the scarcity of information on mycorrhizal distributions. Here we present global, high-resolution maps of vegetation biomass distribution by dominant mycorrhizal associations. Arbuscular, ectomycorrhizal, and ericoid mycorrhizal vegetation store, respectively, 241 ± 15, 100 ± 17, and 7 ± 1.8 GT carbon in aboveground biomass, whereas non-mycorrhizal vegetation stores 29 ± 5.5 GT carbon. Soil carbon stocks in both topsoil and subsoil are positively related to the community-level biomass fraction of ectomycorrhizal plants, though the strength of this relationship varies across biomes. We show that human-induced transformations of Earth’s ecosystems have reduced ectomycorrhizal vegetation, with potential ramifications to terrestrial carbon stocks. Our work provides a benchmark for spatially explicit and globally quantitative assessments of mycorrhizal impacts on ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycling.
Highlights
Vegetation impacts on ecosystem functioning are mediated by mycorrhizas, plant–fungal associations formed by most plant species
Due to the facilitation of plant nutrient acquisition[1] and the large biomass of fungal networks in soil[5], the presence and type of mycorrhiza are among the key determinants of ecosystem functioning[6,7,8,9] and biogeochemical cycling[10,11,12,13]
ericoid mycorrhiza (ErM) vegetation exhibit higher topsoil carbon to nitrogen ratios (C/N) compared with ecosystems dominated by arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) plants[11,12,14,15], in temperate forests the pattern may be reversed in deeper soil layers[16]
Summary
Vegetation impacts on ecosystem functioning are mediated by mycorrhizas, plant–fungal associations formed by most plant species. We assessed: (i) the amount of aboveground biomass carbon currently stored in each type of mycorrhizal vegetation; (ii) the impact of conversion of natural ecosystems to croplands on the distribution of mycorrhizal types globally; and (iii) the relationships between relative abundance of AM and EcM plants in an ecosystem and soil carbon content in topsoil (0–20 cm), medium (20–60) and deep (60–100 cm) subsoil layers.
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