AM fungi patchiness and the clonal growth of Glechoma hederacea in heterogeneous environments.

ABSTRACT: The effect of AM fungi spatial distribution on individual plant development may determine the dynamics of the whole plant community. We investigated whether clonal plants display, like for other resources, a foraging or a specialization response, to adapt to the distribution of AM fungi. Two separate experiments were done to investigate the response of Glechoma hederacea to a heterogeneous distribution of a mixture of 3 AM fungi species, and the effects of each species on colonization and allocation traits. No specialization and a limited foraging response to the heterogeneous distribution of AM fungi was observed. An effect of the AM fungal species on plant mass allocation and ramet production, but not on spacer length, was detected. Two possible explanations are proposed: (i) the plant's

SUBMITTER: Vannier N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5122940 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature