Soil and root nutrient chemistry structure root-associated fungal assemblages in temperate forests.

Dung Quang Nguyen,Andrea Polle,Dominik Schneider,Bin Song,Dennis Janz,Rodica Pena,Nicole Brinkmann,Rolf Daniel,Ingo Schöning

doi:10.1111/1462-2920.15037

Abstract

Root-associated fungi (RAF) link nutrient fluxes between soil and roots and thus play important roles in ecosystem functioning. To enhance our understanding of the factors that control RAF, we fitted statistical models to explain variation in RAF community structure using data from 150 temperate forest sites covering a broad range of environmental conditions and chemical root traits. We found that variation in RAF communities was related to both root traits (e.g., cations, carbohydrates, NO3 - ) and soil properties (pH, cations, moisture, C/N). The identified drivers were the combined result of distinct response patterns of fungal taxa (determined at the rank of orders) to biotic and abiotic factors. Our results support that RAF community variation is related to evolutionary adaptedness of fungal lineages and consequently, drivers of RAF communities are context-dependent.

Highlights

Root-associated fungal (RAF) communities, important components of plant microbiomes, are defined as any fungi residing in and on plant roots (Porras-Alfaro and Bayman, 2011; Dean et al, 2014; Bergelson et al, 2019)
To enhance our understanding of the factors that control Root-associated fungi (RAF), we fitted statistical models to explain variation in RAF community structure using data from 150 temperate forest sites covering a broad range of environmental conditions and chemical root traits
We found that variation in RAF communities was related to both root traits and soil properties

Summary

Introduction

Root-associated fungal (RAF) communities, important components of plant microbiomes, are defined as any fungi residing in and on plant roots (Porras-Alfaro and Bayman, 2011; Dean et al, 2014; Bergelson et al, 2019). Knowledge on the variation patterns and drivers that structure fungal assemblages is fundamental to better understand ecosystem functioning Habitat properties such as vegetation type, host species, forest age, successional stage, human disturbance (Edwards and Zak, 2011; Goldmann et al, 2015; Vannette et al, 2016; Zhang et al, 2016; Kolaříková et al, 2017; Maghnia et al, 2017; Kennedy et al, 2018) and abiotic environmental filters such as climate, soil type, soil fertility and soil pH (Moora et al, 2004; Gorzelak et al, 2012; Sterkenburg et al, 2015; Maghnia et al, 2017) shape fungal communities in soil and roots. E.g., decomposition, P and N transformation are phylogenetically conserved (Treseder and Lennon, 2015), which suggest relationships between nutrient resources and the composition of RAF assemblages, but these factors have not yet received much attention

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion