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Species-specific measurements of ectomycorrhizal turnover under N-fertilization: combining isotopic and genetic approaches

Oecologia volume 138, pages 419–425 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Ectomycorrhizal fungi play a significant role in the transfer of nutrients between plant and soil pools. Here we combine natural abundance 14C measurements with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) to study the effects of nitrogen fertilization on the residence time of carbon within ectomycorrhizal species. We show that the carbon in ectomycorrhizal fungi turns over every 4–5 years, indicating that these fungi are relatively long-lived. Moreover, ectomycorrhizal fungi responded in a species-specific way to fertilization. Cenococcum geophilum contained younger carbon on average in nitrogen-fertilized plots than in control plots, even though turnover rates of the community as a whole did not shift significantly. Our results suggest that the response of ectomycorrhizal fungi to N availability is complex, and alterations in tissue turnover within this microbial pool may vary depending on community structure.

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Acknowledgements

We thank I. Levin and S. Leavitt for access to atmospheric data; Sevilleta Long-term Ecological Research Center for use of field sites and equipment; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for radiocarbon analyses of samples; and J. Borneman (University of California Riverside) and A. Denton (University of Alaska Fairbanks) for advice and technical assistance with the genetic analyses. This work was funded by NSF Cross-site (DEB 9996211), Biocomplexity (DEB 9981548), and LTER III (DEB 0080529) grants to M.F.A.; an NSF Ecosystems grant to K.K.T. (DEB 010776); a Mellon Foundation grant to K.K.T.; and a Center for Accelerated Mass Spectrometry minigrant from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to K.K.T., C.A.M., and M.F.A.

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Author notes

  1. Kathleen K. Treseder

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

  2. C. A. Masiello

    Present address: Department of Geography, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Kathleen K. Treseder, C. A. Masiello, J. L. Lansing & M. F. Allen

  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA

    C. A. Masiello

  3. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    J. L. Lansing

  4. Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    M. F. Allen

Authors
  1. Kathleen K. Treseder
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  2. C. A. Masiello
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  3. J. L. Lansing
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  4. M. F. Allen
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Correspondence to Kathleen K. Treseder.

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Treseder, K.K., Masiello, C.A., Lansing, J.L. et al. Species-specific measurements of ectomycorrhizal turnover under N-fertilization: combining isotopic and genetic approaches. Oecologia 138, 419–425 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1441-y

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Keywords

  • Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition
  • Pinus edulis
  • Radiocarbon
  • RFLP
  • Community composition