Diversity and spatial structure of belowground plant-fungal symbiosis in a mixed subtropical forest of ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal plants.

ABSTRACT: Plant-mycorrhizal fungal interactions are ubiquitous in forest ecosystems. While ectomycorrhizal plants and their fungi generally dominate temperate forests, arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis is common in the tropics. In subtropical regions, however, ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal plants co-occur at comparable abundances in single forests, presumably generating complex community structures of root-associated fungi. To reveal root-associated fungal community structure in a mixed forest of ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal plants, we conducted a massively-parallel pyrosequencing analysis, targeting fungi in the roots of 36 plant species that co-occur in a subtropical forest. In total, 580 fungal operational taxonomic units were detected, of which 132 and 58 were probably

SUBMITTER: Toju H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3904951 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature