Taxonomic and functional response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to land use change in central Argentina

LONGO S; COFRÉ N; SOTERAS F; GRILLI G; LUGO M; URCELAY C

Recent Advances on Mycorrhizal Fungi

Springer

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2016; p. 1 - 11

Altogether, the results analyzed here reveal that land uses in central Argentina(grazing, fire, and forest fragmentation) tend to negatively affect AMF diversity,mainly those human activities that involve severe soil damaging and decreaseplant diversity such as fire and forest fragmentation. When considering AMFfunctional groups, Glomeraceae seems to be resistant to these land uses, whileGigasporaceae seems to be fairly sensitive. It could be predicted that these changesin AMF taxonomic diversity and functional traits would have consequences onsuccessional dynamics and ecosystem processes. For example, it has been shownthat Glomeraceae invests more in intraradical colonization than extraradicalmycelium and this may imply less nutritional benefits to plant hosts. In contrast,Gigasporaceae largely invests in extraradical mycelium allowing for better exploitationof soil resources, particularly P, thus enhancing benefits to plant hosts. In addition, the large amounts of soil myceliummight promote better soil aggregation through glomalin secretion by these fungi.