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Species richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: associations with grassland plant richness and biomass
Author(s) -
Hiiesalu Inga,
Pärtel Meelis,
Davison John,
Gerhold Pille,
Metsis Madis,
Moora Mari,
Öpik Maarja,
Vasar Martti,
Zobel Martin,
Wilson Scott D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.12765
Subject(s) - species richness , biomass (ecology) , biology , plant community , vascular plant , biodiversity , grassland , body size and species richness , botany , ecology
Summary Although experiments show a positive association between vascular plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal ( AMF ) species richness, evidence from natural ecosystems is scarce. Furthermore, there is little knowledge about how AMF richness varies with belowground plant richness and biomass. We examined relationships among AMF richness, above‐ and belowground plant richness, and plant root and shoot biomass in a native N orth A merican grassland. Root‐colonizing AMF richness and belowground plant richness were detected from the same bulk root samples by 454‐sequencing of the AMF SSU r RNA and plant trn L genes. In total we detected 63 AMF taxa. Plant richness was 1.5 times greater belowground than aboveground. AMF richness was significantly positively correlated with plant species richness, and more strongly with below‐ than aboveground plant richness. Belowground plant richness was positively correlated with belowground plant biomass and total plant biomass, whereas aboveground plant richness was positively correlated only with belowground plant biomass. By contrast, AMF richness was negatively correlated with belowground and total plant biomass. Our results indicate that AMF richness and plant belowground richness are more strongly related with each other and with plant community biomass than with the plant aboveground richness measures that have been almost exclusively considered to date.