Strain Identity of the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Laccaria bicolor Is More Important than Richness in Regulating Plant and Fungal Performance under Nutrient Rich Conditions.

ABSTRACT: Effects of biodiversity on productivity are more likely to be expressed when there is greater potential for niche complementarity. In soil, chemically complex pools of nutrient resources should provide more opportunities for niche complementarity than chemically simple pools. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal genotypes can exhibit substantial variation in nutrient acquisition traits and are key components of soil biodiversity. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increasing the chemical complexity and forms of soil nutrients would enhance the effects of intraspecific ECM diversity on host plant and fungal productivity. In pure culture, we found substantial variation in growth of strains of the ECM fungus Laccaria bicolor on a range of inorganic and organic forms of nutrients. Subsequent e

SUBMITTER: Hazard C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5622926 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature