Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi can both accelerate and decelerate decomposition of organic matter in forest soils, but a mechanistic understanding of this differential influence is limited. Here, we tested how ECM fungi affect decomposition along a natural fertility gradient in a temperate forest of European beech. Trees were girdled to reduce belowground carbon supply to the soil. Girdling shifted soil fungal community composition and decreased hyphal biomass production and soil CO2 efflux, indicating a reduced ECM fungal activity. Girdling also affected decomposition processes, but the effects depended on fertility. Our results indicate that ECM fungi decelerate decomposition under conditions of low fertility while under conditions of high fertility ECM fungi and their host roots have an accelerating effect. We conclude that both acceleration and deceleration of decomposition of organic matter by ECM fungi can occur within a forest, with soil fertility determining the direction and magnitude of these effects. We suggest a positive feedback between fertility, stand productivity and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics that is mediated to a large extent by ECM fungi.

Center for Health and Bioresources Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Konrad Lorenz Straße 24 Tulln 3430 Austria

Department of Forest and Soil Sciences Institute of Forest Ecology University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Peter Jordan Straße 82 Vienna 1190 Austria

Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemědělská 3 Brno 613 00 Czech Republic

Environment Agency Austria Spittelauer Lände 5 Vienna 1090 Austria

Forest Ecology Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems ETH Zurich Universitätsstrasse 16 Zürich 8092 Switzerland

Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research Zürcherstrasse 111 Birmensdorf 8903 Switzerland

Symbiocyte Konrad Lorenz Straße 24 Tulln 3430 Austria

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RefSeq
PRJNA521677, PRJNA895381, SAMN12582230%2013SAMN12582341, SAMN31508622%2013SAMN31508877, MK626959%2013MK627467