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Herbivory and Soil Water Availability Induce Changes in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Abundance and Composition

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Abstract

We tested the prediction that abundance and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in Ipomopsis aggregata roots and soils are influenced by ungulate herbivory and drought conditions by examining the effects in a field setting over two years. We used a multi-metric approach to quantify AMF root colonization, AMF reproduction, and AMF community composition in roots and soils. We incorporated complimentary community characterization assays by morphologically identifying spores from trap cultures and the use of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting. Herbivory caused a twofold increase in spore production, an increase in AMF taxa diversity in roots, and a shift in AMF species composition in rhizosphere soils. The impact of herbivory was dependent on water availability, which differed in the two contrasting years. This study demonstrates that both soil water availability and herbivory shape arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities. The changes to mycorrhizal communities may help in understanding mycorrhizal function in changing climates.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Carol Augspurger, Andrew Miller, Victoria Borowicz, Emily Wheeler Lankau, and Sara Paver for their comments on the manuscript. We thank Kelly Allsup, Karlton Allsup and Denise Paige for their help in the field.

Funding

Funding for this project was provided for Cassandra Allsup by summer research fellowship through the Program for Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology at the University of Illinois and NSF Grants 0092554 and 1146085 to Ken Paige.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Cassandra M. Allsup & Richard A. Lankau

  2. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Cassandra M. Allsup & Ken N. Paige

  3. Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Ken N. Paige

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  1. Cassandra M. Allsup
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  2. Richard A. Lankau
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Contributions

CMA, RAL, KNP conceived and designed experiment. CMA and KNP conducted the fieldwork. CMA and RAL collected and analyzed the data. CMA, RAL, and KNP wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cassandra M. Allsup.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Allsup, C.M., Lankau, R.A. & Paige, K.N. Herbivory and Soil Water Availability Induce Changes in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Abundance and Composition. Microb Ecol 84, 141–152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01835-3

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