Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/mec.16956
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) The structure of root-associated fungal communities is related to the long-term effects of plant diversity on productivity
Author Maciá-Vicente, J.G.; Francioli, D.; Weigelt, A.; Albracht, C.; Barry, K.E.; Buscot, F.; Ebeling, A.; Eisenhauer, N.; Hennecke, J.; Heintz-Buschart, A.; van Ruijven, J.; Mommer, L.
Source Titel Molecular Ecology
Year 2023
Department BOOEK
Volume 32
Issue 13
Page From 3763
Page To 3777
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fmec.16956&file=mec16956-sup-0001-Figures.pdf
Keywords fungi; grasslands; mutualists; pathogens; plant diversity–productivity relationship; roots
Abstract Root-associated fungi could play a role in determining both the positive relationship between plant diversity and productivity in experimental grasslands, and its strengthening over time. This hypothesis assumes that specialized pathogenic and mutualistic fungal communities gradually assemble over time, enhancing plant growth more in species-rich than in species-poor plots. To test this hypothesis, we used high-throughput amplicon sequencing to characterize root-associated fungal communities in experimental grasslands of 1 and 15 years of age with varying levels of plant species richness. Specifically, we tested whether the relationship between fungal communities and plant richness and productivity becomes stronger with the age of the experimental plots. Our results showed that fungal diversity increased with plant diversity, but this relationship weakened rather than strengthened over the two time points. Contrastingly, fungal community composition showed increasing associations with plant diversity over time, suggesting a gradual build-up of specific fungal assemblages. Analyses of different fungal guilds showed that these changes were particularly marked in pathogenic fungi, whose shifts in relative abundance are consistent with the pathogen dilution hypothesis in diverse plant communities. Our results suggest that root-associated fungal pathogens play more specific roles in determining the diversity–productivity relationship than other root-associated plant symbionts.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22699
Maciá-Vicente, J.G., Francioli, D., Weigelt, A., Albracht, C., Barry, K.E., Buscot, F., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Hennecke, J., Heintz-Buschart, A., van Ruijven, J., Mommer, L. (2023):
The structure of root-associated fungal communities is related to the long-term effects of plant diversity on productivity
Mol. Ecol. 32 (13), 3763 - 3777 10.1111/mec.16956