Many plant populations have adapted to local soil conditions. However, the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is often overlooked in this context. Only a few studies have used reciprocal transplant experiments to study the relationships between soil conditions, mycorrhizal colonisation and plant growth. Furthermore, most of the studies were conducted under controlled greenhouse conditions. However, long-term field experiments can provide more realistic insights into this issue. We conducted a five-year field reciprocal transplant experiment to study the relationships between soil conditions, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth in the obligate mycotrophic herb Aster amellus. We conducted this study in two regions in the Czech Republic that differ significantly in their soil nutrient content, namely Czech Karst (region K) and Ceske Stredohori (region S). Plants that originated from region S had significantly higher mycorrhizal colonisation than plants from region K, indicating that the percentage of mycorrhizal colonisation has a genetic basis. We found no evidence of local adaptation in Aster amellus. Instead, plants from region S outperformed the plants from region K in both target regions. Similarly, plants from region S showed more mycorrhizal colonisation in all cases, which was likely driven by the lower nutrient content in the soil from that region. Thus, plant aboveground biomass and mycorrhizal colonisation exhibited corresponding differences between the two target regions and regions of origin. Higher mycorrhizal colonisation in the plants from region with lower soil nutrient content (region S) in both target regions indicates that mycorrhizal colonisation is an adaptive trait. However, lower aboveground biomass in the plants with lower mycorrhizal colonisation suggests that the plants from region K are in fact maladapted by their low inherent mycorrhizal colonization. We conclude that including mycorrhizal symbiosis in local adaptation studies may increase our understanding of the mechanisms by which plants adapt to their environment.

Department of Botany National Museum Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Průhonice Czech Republic

Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Průhonice Czech Republic; Department of Botany Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Leimu R, Fischer M (2008) A meta-analysis of local adaptation in plants. PLoS ONE 3(12): e4010. PubMed PMC

Hereford J (2009) A quantitative survey of local adaptation and fitness trade-offs. Amer Nat 173: 579–588. PubMed

Kawecki TJ, Ebert D (2004) Conceptual issues in local adaptation. Ecol Lett 7: 1225–1241.

Lenssen JPM, van Kleunen M, Fischer M, De Kroon H (2004) Local adaptation of the clonal plant Ranunculus reptans to flooding along a small-scale gradient. J Ecol 92: 696–706.

Macel M, Lawson CS, Mortimer SR, Šmilauerová M, Bischoff A, et al. (2007) Climate vs. soil factors in local adaptation of two common plant species. Ecology 88: 424–433. PubMed

Hufford KM, Mazer SJ, Camara MD (2008) Local adaptation and effects of grazing among seedlings of two native California bunchgrass species: Implications for restoration. Restor Ecol 16: 59–69.

Raabová J, Münzbergová Z, Fischer M (2011) The role of spatial scale and soil for local adaptation in Inula hirta . Basic Appl Ecol 12: 152–160.

Schultz PA, Miller RM, Jastrow JD, Rivetta CV, Bever JD (2001) Evidence of a mycorrhizal mechanism for the adaptation of Andropogon gerardii (Poaceae) to high- and low-nutrient prairies. Am J Bot 88: 1650–1656. PubMed

Van Aarle IM, Soderstrom B, Olsson PA (2003) Growth and interactions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soils from limestone and acid rock habitats. Soil Biol Biochem 35: 1557–1564.

Pánková H, Münzbergová Z, Rydlová J, Vosátka M (2011) The response of Aster amellus (Asteraceae) to mycorrhiza depends on the origins of both the soil and the fungi. Am J Bot 98: 1–9. PubMed

Klironomos JN (2003) Variation in plant response to native and exotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Ecology 84: 2292–2301.

Johnson NC, Wilson GWT, Bowker MA, Wilson JA, Miller RM (2010) Resource stoichiometry elucidates the structure and function of arbuscular mycorrhizas across scales. New Phytol 3: 631–643. PubMed

Johnson NC, Graham JH, Smith FA (1997) Functioning of mycorrhizas along the mutualism-parasitism continuum. New Phytol 135: 1–12.

Thrall PH, Hochberg M, Burdon JJ, Bever JD (2007) Coevolution of symbiotic mutualists and parasites in a community context. Trends Ecol Evol 22(3): 120–126. PubMed

Hoeksema JD (2010) Ongoing coevolution in mycorrhizal interactions. New Phytol 187: 286–300. PubMed

Koorem K, Saks Ü, Sõber V, Uibopuu A, Öpik M, et al. (2012) Effects of arbuscular mycorrhiza on community composition and seedling recruitment in temperate forest understory. Basic Appl Ecol 13: 663–672.

Ji B, Bentivenga SP, Casper BB (2010) Evidence for ecological matching of whole AM fungal communities to the local plant-soil environment. Ecology 91: 3037–46. PubMed

Doubková P, Suda J, Sudová R (2012) The symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi contributes to plant tolerance to serpentine edaphic stress. Soil Biol Biochem 44: 56–64.

Nuismer SL, Gandon S (2008) Moving beyond common garden and transplant designs: insight into the causes of local adaptation in species interactions. Amer Nat 171: 658–668. PubMed

Pánková H, Münzbergová Z, Rydlová J, Vosátka M (2008) Differences in AM fungal root colonisation between populations of perennial Aster species have genetic reasons Oecologia. 157: 211–220. PubMed

Raabová J, Münzbergová Z, Fischer M (2007) Ecological rather than geographic or genetic distance affects local adaptation of the rare perennial herb, Aster amellus . Biol Conserv 139: 348–357.

Raabová J, Fischer M, Münzbergová Z (2008) Niche differentiation between diploid and hexaploid Aster amellus . Oecologia 158: 463–472. PubMed

Münzbergová Z, Raabová J, Castro S, Pánková H (2011) Biological flora of Central Europe: Aster amellus L. (Asteraceae). Perspect Plant Ecol 13: 151–162.

Mandáková T, Münzbergová Z (2006) Distribution and ecology of cytotypes of the Aster amellus aggregates in the Czech Republic. Ann Bot 98: 845–856. PubMed PMC

Chýlová T, Münzbergová Z (2008) Past land use co-determines present distribution of dry grassland plant species. Preslia 80: 183–198.

Ellenberg H (1996) Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen: in ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht. Stuttgart: Ulmer. 1095 p.

Moore PD, Chapman SB (1986) Methods in Plant Ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. 536 p.

Olsen SR, Cole CV, Watanabe FS, Dean LA (1954) Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. USDA Circ 939: 1–19.

Ehrenberger F, Gorbach S (1973) Methoden der organischen Elementar- und Spurenanalyse. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim. 452 p.

Koske RE, Gemma JN (1989) A modified procedure for staining roots to detect VA-mycorrhizas. Mycol Res 92: 486–505.

Giovannetti M, Mosse B (1980) An evaluation of techniques for measuring vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal infection in roots. New Phytol 84: 489–500.

Becker U, Colling G, Dostál P, Jakobsson A, Matthies D (2006) Local adaptation in the monocarpic perennial Carlina vulgaris at different spatial scales across Europe. Oecologia 150: 506–518. PubMed

Cogni R, Trigo JR, Futuyma DJ (2011) Varying herbivore population structure correlates with lack of local adaptation in a geographic variable plant-herbivore interaction. PLoS ONE 6(12): e29220. PubMed PMC

Wagner V, Antunes PM, Ristow M, Lechner U, Hensen I (2011) Prevailing negative soil biota effect and no evidence for local adaptation in a widespread Eurasian grass. PLoS ONE 6(3): e17580. PubMed PMC

Garrido JL, Rey PJ, Herrera CM, Ramírez JM (2012) Negative evidence of local adaptation to the establishment conditions in a perennial herb. Plant Ecol 213: 1555–1569.

Evolutionary responses to climate change in a range expanding plant

Can local adaptation research in plants inform selection of native plant materials? An analysis of experimental methodologies

Conditions in home and transplant soils have differential effects on the performance of diploid and allotetraploid anthericum species