Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Invasions in Southern South America

POLICELLI, NAHUEL; VIETORISZ, CORINNE; BHATNAGAR, JENNIFER M.; NUÑEZ, MARTIN A.

Mycorrhizal Fungi in South America: Biodiversity, Conservation, and Sustainable Food Production

Springer Cham

Año: 2022; p. 25 - 46

Biological invasions are an ecological, economic, and human health problem on a global scale. In the case of plant invasions, one of the least explored aspects is the role of belowground biotic interactions in conditioning the invasion success or failure. In this chapter we explore some of the ecological aspects of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) that determine their invasion success with species of the Pinaceae, with special emphasis on the evidence from southern South America. We present a myco-centric framework of the invasion process that addresses the spatial and temporal zonation of EMF succession in the non-native range. We see that different species are associated with the different stages of tree invasions and that this is key to understanding the co-invasion process. We also discuss open questions and the way forward to answer them, emphasizing how plant-mycorrhizal invasions in South America are an ideal system to explore problems that combine mycorrhizal ecology and invasion biology. We review the current understanding of pine-EMF co-invasions to shed light on the idea that the invasion of some plant species might be explained in part by the ecological traits of their specific belowground symbionts.