‘There must be something in the soil our little plants need’: exploring patterns of potential mycorrhizal associations in the flora of the Sunshine Coast heathlands, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The first general overview of mycorrhizal functional groups associated with the flora of the Queensland Sunshine Coast heathlands, a community of low phylogenetic diversity, is provided in this Short Communication. Broad proportions of plant species associated with mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal functional groups in the heathlands were compared with those in the surrounding rainforest flora, and across the heath strata. This overview suggests that a greater diversity of mycorrhizal strategies and an increased number of plant genera with non-mycorrhizal associations are found in the heathlands, with proportions varying among the strata. These associations may be facilitating the coexistence of plant species and increasing phylogenetic dispersion.