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Past spatial structure of plant communities determines arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community assembly
Author(s) -
Bittebiere AnneKristel,
Vandenkoornhuyse Philippe,
Maluenda Elodie,
Gareil Agnès,
Dheilly Alexandra,
Coudouel Sophie,
Bahin Mathieu,
Mony Cendrine
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.452
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2745
pISSN - 0022-0477
DOI - 10.1111/1365-2745.13279
Subject(s) - biology , plant community , glomeromycota , ecology , community structure , spatial ecology , ecosystem , community , biodiversity , arbuscular mycorrhizal , botany , ecological succession , symbiosis , genetics , bacteria
Due to the importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in ecosystem productivity, a key ecological question is how do their communities assemble? As plant spatial patterns constitute a mosaic of AM fungi habitats, we hypothesized that AM fungal community assembly is determined by plant community structure, both in space and time. We tested our hypothesis by sampling individuals of two host‐plant species, Brachypodium pinnatum and Elytrigia repens , from experimental communities cultivated in mesocosms, and assessed their AM fungal root colonizers by mass sequencing. We related AM fungal community structure to the distribution of neighbouring plant species at different spatio‐temporal scales. We demonstrated that AM fungal community assembly depends mostly on past plant spatial patterns at a small spatial scale (5 cm), indicating that plants growing at given locations leave a footprint on the AM fungi community. This spatial scale of response was also influenced by the host‐plant species, probably by its clonal propagation. Synthesis . Overall, we highlighted that processes involved in Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal community assembly do not operate at the rough scale of the overall plant community mosaic but are instead locally determined, delineating the AM fungal ‘eye‐view’ of the host‐plant community.