Abstract
Background and aims
Root-associated fungi link resource fluxes between the soil and roots, thus influencing plant growth and ecosystem function. However, at present, the impact of global warming on these fungi and their plant host specialization, especially in ecosystems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is obscure.
Methods
Here, pot experiments were conducted to examine the root-associated fungal community structure of 14 host plant species undergoing two years of experimental warming on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Infrared heaters were used to raise the soil temperature to 2.0 ℃ higher than the relative ambient temperature. Subsequently, the endophytic and rhizoplane fungal communities were explored by sequencing the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region.
Results
A total of 1564 OTUs were identified, which were dominated by ascomycetes (82.71%). Similar root-associated fungal diversity and community composition were identified under ambient and warming environments. The root-associated fungal community composition significantly varied among different host plant species, and this dissimilarity was enhanced under experimental warming. Root N concentration was essential in shaping the structure of the root-associated fungal community.
Conclusions
Although the root-associated fungal community was resilient to short-term warming, our study highlights that climate warming can induce higher host specificity of root-associated fungal communities in the alpine meadow ecosystem.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901115), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M653789), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2019-pd01), China Clean Development Mechanism Fund Grant Program (2013049).
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J.-S.H. designed the experiment; J.-S.J. and Z.-Y.M. carried out the experiment; J.-S.J. and N.L. analysed the data; J.-S.H., N.L., X.-J.H. and J.-S.H. wrote the manuscript.
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Jiang, S., Ling, N., Ma, Z. et al. Short-term warming increases root-associated fungal community dissimilarities among host plant species on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Plant Soil 466, 597–611 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05073-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05073-x