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Moderate phosphorus additions consistently affect community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador
Author(s) -
Dueñas Juan F.,
Camenzind Tessa,
Roy Julien,
Hempel Stefan,
Homeier Jürgen,
Suárez Juan Pablo,
Rillig Matthias C.
Publication year - 2020
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.16641
Subject(s) - montane ecology , arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi , phosphorus , biology , ecology , mycorrhizal fungi , affect (linguistics) , tropics , arbuscular mycorrhizal , mycorrhiza , tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , subtropics , botany , symbiosis , chemistry , horticulture , bacteria , inoculation , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , genetics
Summary Anthropogenic atmospheric deposition can increase nutrient supply in the most remote ecosystems, potentially affecting soil biodiversity. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities rapidly respond to simulated soil eutrophication in tropical forests. Yet the limited spatio‐temporal extent of such manipulations, together with the often unrealistically high fertilization rates employed, impedes generalization of such responses. We sequenced mixed root AMF communities within a seven year‐long fully factorial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition experiment, replicated at three tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador with differing environmental characteristics. We hypothesized: strong shifts in community composition and species richness after long‐term fertilization, site‐ and clade‐specific responses to N vs P additions depending on local soil fertility and clade life history traits respectively. Fertilization consistently shifted AMF community composition across sites, but only reduced richness of Glomeraceae. Compositional changes were mainly driven by increases in P supply while richness reductions were observed only after combined N and P additions. We conclude that moderate increases of N and P exert a mild but consistent effect on tropical AMF communities. To predict the consequences of these shifts, current results need to be supplemented with experiments that characterize local species‐specific AMF functionality.