Nestedness in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities in a Volcanic Ecosystem: Selection of Disturbance-tolerant Fungi along an Elevation Gradient.

ABSTRACT: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play a significant role in the establishment and resilience of vegetation in harsh environments, such as volcanic slopes, in which soil is frequently disturbed by ash falling and erosion. We characterized AM fungal communities associated with a pioneer grass in a volcanic slope based on the disturbance tolerance of the fungi, addressing the hypothesis that soil disturbance is a major ecological filter for AM fungi in volcanic ecosystems and, thus, fungi that are more tolerant to soil disturbance are selected at higher elevations (i.e. nearer to the crater). Paired soil-core samples were collected from the rhizosphere of Miscanthus sinensis between the vegetation limit and forest limit on a volcanic slope and used in a trap culture with M. sinensis seedling

SUBMITTER: Atunnisa R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6759341 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature