Abstract
Purpose
Mycorrhizal interactions can drive plant productivity, diversity, and ecosystem function; however, gaps remain in our understanding of interactions among plants and different mycorrhizal types. Species in the Pinaceae primarily associate with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi; however, some species can be colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi as rudimentary hosts. Interactions between plants and mycorrhizal fungi are expected to change along the mutualism-parasitism spectrum with changes in resource availability; however, the impacts of AM fungi on rudimentary hosts under different resource conditions are unknown.
Methods
In this study, we assessed the individual and interactive effects of ECM and AM inoculation on Pinus strobus seedlings under factorial combinations of low, medium, or high nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) supply.
Results
No AM colonization was observed at the end of the experiment; however, seedlings inoculated with AM fungi showed significantly reduced growth. AM inoculation also had the greatest effect on P. strobus tissue nutrient concentrations under low fertilization including increased P and reduced N and N:P ratio. ECM colonization benefited P. strobus growth and P uptake, especially under low P availability, but ECM colonization rate itself was limited by low P. ECM colonization also improved seedling regulation of N:P ratio near optimum compared to uncolonized seedlings.
Conclusion
We conclude that the effects of ECM and AM inoculation on P. strobus are context dependent, which is important for understanding mutualistic and rudimentary host responses and may have important implications for regeneration and early growth of P. strobus in natural and managed forests.
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Code availability
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Acknowledgements
This research was conducted in Robinson-Huron Treaty territory and the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg, specifically the Garden River and Batchewana First Nations, as well as Métis People. We thank Rachelle Norman, Katja Karhi, Jen Bridge, Caitlyn Horsch, Aki Koyama for assistance with setting up the experiment and sample analysis, Darren Derbowka and Scott Bowman for technical assistance, and Tim Fahey for comments on the manuscript.
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The work was funded through Discovery Grant RGPIN-2015-06060 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and a Canada Research Chair awarded to P.M. Antunes.
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PMA, FWB, and CF designed, set up, and harvested Experiment 1; PMA and CF designed, set up, and harvested Experiment 2, CF maintained the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the first draft; and all authors contributed to and approved the final draft.
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Fahey, C., Bell, F.W. & Antunes, P.M. Effects of dual mycorrhizal inoculation on Pinus strobus seedlings are influenced by soil resource availability. Plant Soil 479, 607–620 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05546-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05546-7