Abstract
Fungal communities forming associations with plant roots have generally been described as ranging from symbiotic to parasitic. Disruptions to these associations consequently can have significant impacts on native plant communities. We examined how invasion by Vincetoxicum rossicum, a plant native to Europe, can alter both the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, as well as the general fungal communities associating with native plant roots in both field and woodland sites in Southern Ontario. In two different sites in the Greater Toronto Area, we took advantage of invasion by V. rossicum and neighbouring uninvaded sites to investigate the fungal communities associating with local plant roots, including goldenrod (Solidago spp.), wild red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis), meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum), and wild ginger (Asarum canadense). Fungi colonizing roots were characterized with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of amplified total fungal (TF) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) ribosomal fragments. We saw a significant effect of the presence of this invader on the diversity of TF phylotypes colonizing native plant roots, and a composition shift of both the TF and AMF community in native roots in both sites. In native communities invaded by V. rossicum, a significant increase in richness and colonization density of TF suggests that invaders such as V. rossicum may be able to influence the composition of soil fungi available to natives, possibly via mechanisms such as increased carbon provision or antibiosis attributable to unique root exudates. Nature Conservation 4: 55–75 (2013) doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.4.3578 http://www.pensoft.net/natureconservation Copyright Cindy L. Bongard et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. ReSeARCh ARtICle Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journal
Highlights
Plant invasions have resulted in observable shifts in the above ground plant communities, and there is evidence that soil fungi are being significantly altered as the invasion process progresses (Hallett 2006, Mummey and Rillig 2006, Stinson et al 2006, Zhang et al 2010)
Mummey et al (2005) used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and multivariate analyses to show that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities associating with a common forage grass species Dactylis glomerata, naturalized in mid-western US, shifted to reflect the community composition associated with a noxious weed native to eastern Europe, Centaurea maculosa, post invasion
Our research supports this mechanism as a possible contributor to dog-strangling vine (DSV) success by demonstrating that there are significant shifts in both the total and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities associating with native plant roots in invaded relative to non-invaded sites
Summary
Plant invasions have resulted in observable shifts in the above ground plant communities, and there is evidence that soil fungi are being significantly altered as the invasion process progresses (Hallett 2006, Mummey and Rillig 2006, Stinson et al 2006, Zhang et al 2010). Given that AMF are functionally diverse and confer differential benefits to plants (Sanders and Fitter 1992, Bever et al 1996, Bever 2002, Klironomos 2003), responses of AMF communities to invaders would be potentially highly disadvantageous to established native species (Helgason et al 2002, Kourtev et al 2002, Greipsson and DiTommaso 2006, Hawkes et al 2006, Stinson et al 2006), and would cause shifts in native plant communities (van der Heijden et al 1998). Disruptions to community plant-AMF associations in local ecosystems may support system dominance by invaders (van der Heijden et al 1998, Daniell et al 2001, Helgason et al 2002, Kourtev et al 2002, Greipsson and DiTommaso 2006, Hawkes et al 2006, Bastias et al 2007, Curlevski et al 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
