Roles of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Soil Abiotic Conditions in the Establishment of a Dry Grassland Community

0463668 - BÚ 2017 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Knappová, Jana - Pánková, Hana - Münzbergová, Zuzana
Roles of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Soil Abiotic Conditions in the Establishment of a Dry Grassland Community.
PLoS ONE. Roč. 11, č. 7 (2016), s. 1-24. ISSN 1932-6203. E-ISSN 1932-6203
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-11635S
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : AMF * dry grassland commnunity * soil abiotic conditions
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 2.806, year: 2016

The effect of suppressing the soil fungal community on the richness and composition of the plant communities was much stronger than the effect of soil origin. Contrary to our expectations, the effects of these two factors were largely additive, indicating the same degree of importance of soil fungal communities in the establishment of species-rich plant communities in the soils from both origins. The negative effect of suppressing soil fungi on species richness, however, occurred later in the soil from the abandoned field than in the soil from the grassland. This result likely occurred because the negative effects of the suppression of fungi in the field soil were caused mainly by changes in plant community composition and increased competition. In contrast, in the grassland soil, the absence of soil fungi was limiting for plants already at the early stages of their establishment, i.e., in the phases of germination and early recruitment. While fungicide affects not only arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi but also other biota, our data indicate that changes in the AMF communities are the most likely drivers of the observed changes. The effects of other soil biota, however, cannot be fully excluded. These results suggest that the availability of soil fungi may not be the most important limiting factor for the establishment of grassland species in abandoned fields if we manage to reduce the intensity of competition at these sites e.g., by mowing or grazing.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0264596