Relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes in driving arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal assemblage during the spreading of a toxic plant.

ABSTRACT: Both deterministic and stochastic processes are expected to drive the assemblages of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, but little is known about the relative importance of these processes during the spreading of toxic plants. Here, the species composition and phylogenetic structure of AM fungal communities colonizing the roots of a toxic plant, Ligularia virgaurea, and its neighborhood plants, were analyzed in patches with different individual densities of L. virgaurea (represents the spreading degree). Community compositions of AM fungi in both root systems were changed significantly by the L. virgaurea spreading, and also these communities fitted the neutral model very well. AM fungal communities in patches with absence and presence of L. virgaurea were phylogenetically random and clust

SUBMITTER: Shi G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3991703 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature