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Multiscale assemblage of an ectomycorrhizal fungal community: the influence of host functional traits and soil properties in a 10-ha miombo forest

par Bauman, David ;Raspé, Olivier;Meerts, Pierre Jacques ;Degreef, Jérôme ;Ilunga Muledi, Jonathan;Drouet, Thomas
Référence FEMS microbiology, ecology, 92, 10, fiw151
Publication Publié, 2016-07-08

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) are highly diversified and dominant in a number of forest ecosystems. Nevertheless, theirscales of spatial distribution and the underlying ecological processes remain poorly understood. Although most EMF areconsidered to be generalists regarding host identity, a preference toward functional strategies of host trees has never beentested. Here, the EMF community was characterised by DNA sequencing in a 10-ha tropical dry season forest—referred to asmiombo—an understudied ecosystem from a mycorrhizal perspective. We used 36 soil parameters and 21 host functionaltraits (FTs) as candidate explanatory variables in spatial constrained ordinations for explaining the EMF communityassemblage. Results highlighted that the community variability was explained by host FTs related to the ‘leaf economicsspectrum’ (adjusted R2 = 11%; SLA, leaf area, foliar Mg content), and by soil parameters (adjusted R2 = 17%), notably totalforms of micronutrients or correlated available elements (Al, N, K, P). Both FTs and soil generated patterns in thecommunity at scales ranging from 75 to 375 m. Our results indicate that soil is more important than previously thought forEMF in miombo woodlands, and show that FTs of host species can be better predictors of symbiont distribution thantaxonomical identity.