Skip to main content
Log in

Effects of plant species and soil history on root morphology, arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of roots, and biomass in four tallgrass prairie species

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although dominant C4 grasses in tallgrass prairie are highly mycotrophic, for many non-dominant species neither extent of mycorrhizal colonization nor root morphology effects on plant–soil feedback interactions are known. In a laboratory study conducted from November 2013 to February 2014 at Governors State University (University Park, IL), we grew plants of a dominant C4 grass (Andropogon gerardii) and three non-dominant forbs (Symphyotrichum laeve var. laeve, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae and Parthenium integrifolium) individually in soil collected in the field beneath a conspecific, collected beneath another study species, or in sterilized soil. The study addressed the following questions: (1) Is extent of mycorrhizal colonization of roots related to root structure? (2) How does soil history interact with plant root traits to influence plant–soil feedback? (3) How might plant–soil feedback patterns influence competitive interactions among study species? We found that proportion arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization decreased with increasing specific root length. Soil history had a stronger influence than plant species on total biomass of plants, with all species having highest total biomass when grown in Andropogon soil. Consequently, net, or heterospecific, feedback did not differ among pairwise species combinations, and was not different from 0. While these results suggest that no study species should have a competitive advantage in the field, Andropogon might still have an advantage through mechanisms such as competition for light. Future work in the field and including less mycotrophic species is needed to better understand AMF effects on competitive interactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anacker BL, Klironomos JN, Maherali H, Reinhart KO, Strauss SY (2014) Phylogenetic conservatism in plant–soil feedback and its implications for plant abundance. Ecol Lett 17:1613–1621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer JT, Mack KML, Bever JD (2015) Plant–soil feedbacks as drivers of succession: evidence from remnant and restored tallgrass prairies. Ecosphere 6:158. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00480.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baylis GTS (1975) Magnolioid mycorrhiza and mycotrophy in root systems derived from it. In: Sanders FE, Mosse B, Tinker PB (eds) Endomycorrhizas. Academic Press, London, pp 373–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergmann J, Verbruggen E, Heinze J, Xiang D, Chen B, Joshi J, Rillig MC (2016) The interplay between soil structure, roots, and microbiota as a determinant of plant–soil feedback. Ecol Evol 6:7633–7644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bever JD (2002) Negative feedback within a mutualism: host- specific growth of mycorrhizal fungi reduces plant benefit. Proc R Soc B 269:2595–2601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bever JD, Westover KM, Antonovics J (1997) Incorporating the soil community into plant population dynamics: the utility of the feedback approach. J Ecol 85:561–573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brundrett MC (1991) Mycorrhizas in natural ecosystems. Adv Ecol Res 21:171–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brundrett MC (2002) Coevolution of roots and mycorrhizas of land plants. New Phytol 154:275–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brundrett M, Bougher N, Dell B, Grove T, Malajzuk N (1996) Working with mycorrhizas in forestry and agriculture. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzsimons MS, Miller RM (2010) The importance of soil microorganisms for maintaining diverse plant communities in tallgrass prairie. Am J Bot 97:1937–1943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson KD (2004) Soil survey of Will County. Illinois, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartnett DC, Wilson GT (1999) Mycorrhizae influence plant community structure and diversity in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 80:1187–1195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartnett DC, Wilson GWT (2002) The role of mycorrhizas in plant community structure and dynamics: lessons from grasslands. Plant Soil 244:319–331

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herzberger AJ, Meiners SJ, Towey JB, Butts PA, Armstrong DL (2015) Plant–microbe interactions change along a tallgrass prairie restoration chronosequence. Restor Ecol 23:220–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hetrick BAD, Wilson GWT, Todd TC (1992) Relationships of mycorrhizal symbiosis, rooting strategy, and phenology among tallgrass prairie forbs. Can J Bot 70:1521–1528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge A, Fitter AH (2013) Microbial mediation of plant competition and community structure. Funct Ecol 27:865–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson NC, Wilson GWT, Wilson JA, Miller RM, Bowker MA (2015) Mycorrhizal phenotypes and the Law of the Minimum. New Phytol 205:1473–1484

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koske RE, Tessier B (1983) A convenient permanent slide mounting medium. Mycol Soc Am Newslett 34:59

    Google Scholar 

  • Koziol L, Bever JD (2015) Mycorrhizal response trades off with plant growth rate and increases with plant successional status. Ecology 96:1768–1774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koziol L, Bever JD (2016) AMF, phylogeny, and succession: specificity of response to mycorrhizal fungi increases for late-successional plants. Ecosphere 7:e01555. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulmatiski A, Kardol P (2008) Getting plant–soil feedbacks out of the greenhouse: experimental and conceptual approaches. Prog Bot 69:449–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuťáková E, Herben T, Münzbergová Z (2018) Heterospecific plant–soil feedback and its relationship to plant traits, species relatedness, and co-occurrence in natural communities. Oecologia 187:679–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lekberg Y, Bever JD, Bunn RA, Callaway RM, Hart MM, Kivlin SN, Klironomos J, Larkin BG, Maron JL, Reinhart KO, Remke M, van der Putten WH (2018) Relative importance of competition and plant–soil feedback, their synergy, context dependency and implications for coexistence. Ecol Lett 21:1268–1281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin G, McCormack ML, Guo D (2015) Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal effects on plant competition and community structure. J Ecol 103:1224–1232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCain KNS, Wilson GWT, Blair JM (2011) Mycorrhizal suppression alters plant productivity and forb establishment in a grass-dominated prairie restoration. Plant Ecol 212:1675–1685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGonigle TP, Evans DG, Fairchild GL, Miller MH, Swan JA (1990) A new method which gives an objective measure of colonization of roots by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. New Phytol 115:495–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valverde-Barrantes OJ, Horning AL, Smemo KA, Blackwood CB (2016) Phylogenetically structured traits in root systems influence arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in woody angiosperms. Plant Soil 404:1–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van der Heijden MGA, Martin FM, Selosse M, Sanders IR (2015) Mycorrhizal ecology and evolution: the past, the present, and the future. New Phytol 205:1406–1423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagg C, Jansa J, Stadler M, Schmid B, van der Heijden MGA (2011) Mycorrhizal fungal identity and diversity relaxes plant–plant competition. Ecology 92:1303–1313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson GWT, Hartnett DC (1997) Effects of mycorrhizae on plant growth and dynamics in experimental tallgrass prairie microcosms. Am J Bot 84:478–482

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was partially funded by a Governors State University research grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary E. Carrington.

Additional information

Communicated by Christina Birnbaum.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic supplementary material 1 (PDF 385 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Impastato, C.J., Carrington, M.E. Effects of plant species and soil history on root morphology, arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of roots, and biomass in four tallgrass prairie species. Plant Ecol 221, 117–124 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00997-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-019-00997-y

Keywords

Navigation