Mycorrhizas drive the evolution of plant adaptation to drought

Abstract

Plant adaptation to drought facilitates major ecological transitions, and will likely play a vital role under looming climate change. Mycorrhizas, i.e. strategic associations between plant roots and soil-borne symbiotic fungi, can exert strong influence on the tolerance to drought of extant plants. Here, I show how mycorrhizal strategy and drought adaptation have been shaping one another throughout the course of plant evolution. To characterize the evolutions of both plant characters, I applied a phylogenetic comparative method using data of 1,638 extant species globally distributed. The detected correlated evolution unveiled gains and losses of drought tolerance occurring at faster rates in lineages with ecto- or ericoid mycorrhizas, which were on average about 15 and 300 times faster than in lineages with the arbuscular mycorrhizal and naked root (non-mycorrhizal alone or with facultatively arbuscular mycorrhizal) strategy, respectively. My study suggests that mycorrhizas can play a key facilitator role in the evolutionary processes of plant adaptation to critical changes in water availability across global climates.