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Fungal symbionts alter plant responses to global change
Author(s) -
Kivlin Stephanie N.,
Emery Sarah M.,
Rudgers Jennifer A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.3732/ajb.1200558
Subject(s) - biology , symbiosis , global change , arbuscular mycorrhizal , global warming , glomeromycota , ecosystem , climate change , biomass (ecology) , botany , ecology , bacteria , genetics
While direct plant responses to global change have been well characterized, indirect plant responses to global change, via altered species interactions, have received less attention. Here, we examined how plants associated with four classes of fungal symbionts (class I leaf endophytes [EF], arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi [AMF], ectomycorrhizal fungi [ECM], and dark septate endophytes [DSE]) responded to four global change factors (enriched CO 2 , drought, N deposition, and warming). We performed a meta‐analysis of 434 studies spanning 174 publications to search for generalizable trends in responses of plant–fungal symbioses to future environments. Specifically, we addressed the following questions: (1) Can fungal symbionts ameliorate responses of plants to global change? (2) Do fungal symbiont groups differ in the degree to which they modify plant response to global change? (3) Do particular global change factors affect plant–fungal symbioses more than others? In all global change scenarios, except elevated CO 2 , fungal symbionts significantly altered plant responses to global change. In most cases, fungal symbionts increased plant biomass in response to global change. However, increased N deposition reduced the benefits of symbiosis. Of the global change factors we considered, drought and N deposition resulted in the strongest fungal mediation of plant responses. Our analysis highlighted gaps in current knowledge for responses of particular fungal groups and revealed the importance of considering not only the nonadditive effects of multiple global change factors, but also the interactive effects of multiple fungal symbioses. Our results show that considering plant–fungal symbioses is critical to predicting ecosystem response to global change.