Little is known about the functioning of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis over the course of primary succession, where soil, host plants, and AM fungal communities all undergo significant changes. Over the course of succession at the studied post-mining site, plant cover changes from an herbaceous community to the closed canopy of a deciduous forest. Calamagrostis epigejos (Poaceae) is a common denominator at all stages, and it dominates among AM host species. Its growth response to AM fungi was studied at four distinctive stages of natural succession: 12, 20, 30, and 50 years of age, each represented by three spatially separated sites. Soils obtained from all 12 studied sites were γ-sterilized and used in a greenhouse experiment in which C. epigejos plants were (1) inoculated with a respective community of native AM fungi, (2) inoculated with reference AM fungal isolates from laboratory collection, or (3) cultivated without AM fungi. AM fungi strongly boosted plant growth during the first two stages but not during the latter two, where the effect was neutral or even negative. While plant phosphorus (P) uptake was generally increased by AM fungi, no contribution of mycorrhizae to nitrogen (N) uptake was recorded. Based on N:P in plant biomass, we related the turn from a positive to a neutral/negative effect of AM fungi on plant growth, observed along the chronosequence, to a shift in relative P and N availability. No functional differences were found between native and reference inocula, yet root colonization by the native AM fungi decreased relative to the reference inoculum in the later succession stages, thereby indicating shifts in the composition of AM fungal communities reflected in different functional characteristics of their members.

Department of Experimental Plant Biology Faculty of Sciences Charles University Viničná 5 128 00 Praha 2 Czech Republic

Institute for Environmental Studies Faculty of Sciences Charles University Benátská 2 128 00 Praha 2 Czech Republic

Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

New Phytol. 2006;172(3):544-53 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2004 Dec;14(6):391-5 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2013 Oct;23(7):561-72 PubMed

Science. 2004 Jun 11;304(5677):1629-33 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2007 Mar;17(2):75-91 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2007 Sep;17(6):495-506 PubMed

New Phytol. 2010 Feb;185(3):631-47 PubMed

Plant Sci. 2014 May;221-222:29-41 PubMed

Ecol Lett. 2010 Mar;13(3):394-407 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2006 Jun;16(4):285-95 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2009 Apr;19(4):239-46 PubMed

Trends Plant Sci. 2013 Sep;18(9):484-91 PubMed

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 3;107(31):13754-9 PubMed

New Phytol. 2015 Mar;205(4):1565-76 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2015 Oct;25(7):499-515 PubMed

Am Nat. 1993 Jun;141(6):829-46 PubMed

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Feb 2;107(5):2093-8 PubMed

New Phytol. 2007;174(2):244-50 PubMed

Mycorrhiza. 2014 Apr;24(3):219-26 PubMed

Science. 2007 Jun 22;316(5832):1746-8 PubMed

Ecol Evol. 2016 May 30;6(13):4332-46 PubMed

New Phytol. 2015 Mar;205(4):1473-84 PubMed

Asymmetric Interaction Between Two Mycorrhizal Fungal Guilds and Consequences for the Establishment of Their Host Plants

Asymmetric response of root-associated fungal communities of an arbuscular mycorrhizal grass and an ectomycorrhizal tree to their coexistence in primary succession

Plant Communities Rather than Soil Properties Structure Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities along Primary Succession on a Mine Spoil