Identification of root-colonizing AM fungal communities and their responses to short-term climate change and grazing on Tibetan plateau

Abstract

The molecular diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi remains largely unexplored in sedge-dominated ecosystems, much less their responses to global climate change and grazing. To determine the molecular diversity of AM fungi and how they are affected by climate change and grazing, we examined AM fungal communities inside roots in a sedge meadow ecosystem (4875 m a.s.l.) undergoing 4 yr. of fully factorial manipulations of experimental warming, snow addition and grazing on the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 21 AM fungal virtual taxa (VTs) were identified, including one new genus-like clade and one new VT unrecorded in the MaarjAM database. However, we did not observe significant effects of climate change and/or grazing on AM fungal abundance, diversity and community composition. These results indicate that diverse AM fungal taxa inhabit in the sedge-dominated meadows on the Tibetan Plateau, but the AM fungal communities were not sensitive to short-term climate change and grazing.