Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition affected by original elevation rather than translocation along an altitudinal gradient on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

ABSTRACT: Elucidating arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal responses to elevation changes is critical to improve understanding of microbial function in ecosystems under global asymmetrical climate change scenarios. Here we examined AM fungal community in a two-year reciprocal translocation of vegetation-intact soil blocks along an altitudinal gradient (3,200 m to 3,800 m) in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. AM fungal spore density was significantly higher at lower elevation than at higher elevation regardless of translocation, except that this parameter was significantly increased by upward translocation from original 3,200 m to 3,400 m and 3,600 m. Seventy-three operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of AM fungi were recovered using 454-pyrosequencing of 18S rDNA sequences at a 97% sequence

SUBMITTER: Yang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5101527 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature