Distinct effects of host and neighbour tree identity on arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi along a tree diversity gradient

Abstract

Plant diversity and plant-related ecosystem functions have been in focus in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning studies. However, in this context, biotic interactions with mycorrhizal fungi have been understudied although they are crucial for plant-resource acquisition. We investigated the effects of tree species richness, tree mycorrhizal type on arbuscular (AMF) and ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) communities. We aimed to understand how dissimilarities in taxa composition and beta-diversity are related to target trees and neighbours of the same/different mycorrhizal type. We sampled a tree experiment with saplings ([~]7 years old), where tree species richness (monocultures, 2-species, and 4-species mixtures) and mycorrhizal type were manipulated. AMF and EMF richness significantly increased with increasing tree species richness. AMF richness of mixture plots resembled that of the sum of the respective monocultures, whereas EMF richness of mixture plots was lower compared to the sum of the respective monocultures. Specialisation scores revealed significantly more specialised AMF than EMF suggesting that, in contrast to previous studies, AMF were more specialised, whereas EMF were not. We further found that AMF communities were little driven by the surrounding trees, whereas EMF communities were. Our study revealed the drivers of mycorrhizal fungal communities and further highlights the distinct strategies of AMF and EMF.