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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus responses to disturbance are context-dependent

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Abstract

Anthropogenic disturbance is one of the most important forces shaping soil ecosystems. While organisms that live in the soil, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, are sensitive to disturbance, their response is not always predictable. Given the range of disturbance types and differences among AM fungi in their growth strategies, the unpredictability of the responses of AM fungi to disturbance is not surprising. We investigated the role of disturbance type (i.e., soil disruption, agriculture, host perturbation, and chemical disturbance) and fungus identity on disturbance response in the AM symbiosis. Using meta-analysis, we found evidence for differential disturbance response among AM fungal species, as well as evidence that particular fungal species are especially susceptible to certain disturbance types, perhaps because of their life history strategies.

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Acknowledgements

MMH was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant as well as a Gledden Fellowship through the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia. Thanks to Kristin Aleklett for helping with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Mieke van der Heyde & Miranda Hart

  2. Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Lakeshore Campus, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60660, USA

    Brian Ohsowski

  3. School of Earth and Environment, The UWA Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001,, Australia

    Lynette K. Abbott

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  1. Mieke van der Heyde
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van der Heyde, M., Ohsowski, B., Abbott, L.K. et al. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus responses to disturbance are context-dependent. Mycorrhiza 27, 431–440 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-016-0759-3

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