Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities are phylogenetically clustered at small scales.

ABSTRACT: Next-generation sequencing technologies with markers covering the full Glomeromycota phylum were used to uncover phylogenetic community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associated with Festuca brevipila. The study system was a semi-arid grassland with high plant diversity and a steep environmental gradient in pH, C, N, P and soil water content. The AMF community in roots and rhizosphere soil were analyzed separately and consisted of 74 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in total. Community-level variance partitioning showed that the role of environmental factors in determining AM species composition was marginal when controlling for spatial autocorrelation at multiple scales. Instead, phylogenetic distance and spatial distance were major correlates of AMF communitie

SUBMITTER: Horn S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4992081 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature