Functional stability of mycorrhizal interactions in woody natives and aliens facing fire disturbance

LONGO, SILVANA; NOUHRA, EDUARDO; TECCO, PAULA A.; URCELAY, CARLOS

PLANT ECOLOGY

SPRINGER

Año: 2020 vol. 221 p. 321 - 331

1385-0237

Changes in soil biota following fire and itssuccessive influence on their interactions with plantsmay have direct implications on the invasion successof woody alien species in fire-prone ecosystems. Inthis work, we experimentally addressed if soil biotafrom burned and unburned areas differentially affectgrowth and nutrition of two dominant woody natives(Lithraea molleoides and Vachellia caven) and threewoody invaders (Gleditsia triacanthos, Ligustrumlucidum and Pyracantha angustifolia) that occur onfire-prone ecosystems of central Argentina. Ourresults indicate that growth and P content in tissuesof both woody natives Lithraea and Vachellia weregenerally benefited by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) and that these effects did not strongly differbetween AMF communities from burned andunburned soils. In the case of alien species, differencesin growth and nutrition in response to AMF wererelated more to the identity of the invader than on the provenance of the soil biota. This study providesevidence on the important role that soil biota may havein the success of woody aliens in these ecosystems andon the functional stability of AMF communities facingdisturbances.