Does plant species co-occurrence influence soil mite diversity?

Few studies have considered whether plant taxa can be used as predictors of belowground faunal diversity in natural ecosystems. We examined soil mite (Acari) diversity beneath six grass species at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas, USA. We tested the hypotheses that soil mite species richness, abundance, and taxonomic diversity are greater (1) beneath grasses in dicultures (different species) compared to monocultures (same species), (2) beneath grasses of higher resource quality (lower C:N) compared to lower resource quality, and (3) beneath heterogeneous mixes of grasses (C3 and C4 grasses growing together) compared to homogeneous mixes (C3 or C4 grasses) using natural occurrences of plant species as treatments. This study is the first to examine the interaction between above- and belowground diversity in a natural setting with species-level resolution of a hyper-diverse taxon. Our results indicate that grasses in diculture supported a more species and phylogenetically rich soil mite fauna than was observed for monocultures and that this relationship was significant at depth but not in the upper soil horizon. We noted that mite species richness was not linearly related to grass species richness, which suggests that simple extrapolations of soil faunal diversity based on plant species inventories may underestimate the richness of associated soil mite communities. The distribution of mite size classes in dicultures was considerably different than those for monocultures. There was no difference in soil mite richness between grass combinations of differing resource quality, or resource heterogeneity.     

Biotic contexts alter metal sequestration and AMF effects on plant growth in soils polluted with heavy metals

Investigating how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)-plant interactions vary with edaphic conditions provides an opportunity to test the context-dependency of interspecific interactions. The relationship between AMF and their host plants in the context of other soil microbes was studied along a gradient of heavy metal contamination originating at the site of zinc smelters that operated for a century. The site is currently under restoration. Native C3 grasses have reestablished, and C4 grasses native to the region but not the site were introduced. Interactions involving the native mycorrhizal fungi, non-mycorrhizal soil microbes, soil, one C3 grass (Deschampsia flexuosa), and one C4 grass (Sorghastrum nutans) were investigated using soils from the two extremes of the contamination gradient in a full factorial greenhouse experiment. After 12 weeks, plant biomass and root colonization by AMF and non-mycorrhizal microbes were measured. Plants from both species grew much larger in soil from low-contaminated (LC) origin than high-contaminated (HC) origin. For S. nutans, the addition of a non-AMF soil microbial wash of either origin increased the efficacy of AMF from LC soils but decreased the efficacy of AMF from HC soils in promoting plant growth. Furthermore, there was high mortality of S. nutans in HC soil, where plants with AMF from HC died sooner. For D. flexuosa, plant biomass did not vary with AMF source or the microbial wash treatment or their interaction. While AMF origin did not affect root colonization of D. flexuosa by AMF, the presence and origin of AMF did affect the number of non-mycorrhizal (NMF) morphotypes and NMF root colonization. Adding non-AMF soil biota reduced Zn concentrations in shoots of D. flexuosa. Thus the non-AMF biotic context affected heavy metal sequestration and associated NMF in D. flexuosa, and it interacted with AMF to affect plant biomass in S. nutans. Our results should be useful for improving our basic ecological understanding of the context-dependency of plant-soil interactions and are potentially important in restoration of heavy-metal-contaminated sites.     

Soil feedback of exotic savanna grass relates to pathogen absence and mycorrhizal selectivity

Enemy release of exotic plants from soil pathogens has been tested by examining plant-soil feedback effects in repetitive growth cycles. However, positive soil feedback may also be due to enhanced benefit from the local arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Few studies actually have tested pathogen effects, and none of them did so in arid savannas. In the Kalahari savanna in Botswana, we compared the soil feedback of the exotic grass Cenchrus biflorus with that of two dominant native grasses, Eragrostis lehmanniana and Aristida meridionalis. The exotic grass had neutral to positive soil feedback, whereas both native grasses showed neutral to negative feedback effects. Isolation and testing of root-inhabiting fungi of E. lehmanniana yielded two host-specific pathogens that did not influence the exotic C. biflorus or the other native grass, A. meridionalis. None of the grasses was affected by the fungi that were isolated from the roots of the exotic C. biflorus. We isolated and compared the AMF community of the native and exotic grasses by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel elecrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), targeting AMF 18S rRNA. We used roots from monospecific field stands and from plants grown in pots with mixtures of soils from the monospecific field stands. Three-quarters of the root samples of the exotic grass had two nearly identical sequences, showing 99% similarity with Glomus versiforme. The two native grasses were also associated with distinct bands, but each of these bands occurred in only a fraction of the root samples. The native grasses contained a higher diversity of AMF bands than the exotic grass. Canonical correspondence analyses of the AMF band patterns revealed almost as much difference between the native and exotic grasses as between the native grasses. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that release from soil-borne enemies may facilitate local abundance of exotic plants, and we provide the first evidence that these processes may occur in arid savanna ecosystems. Pathogenicity tests implicated the involvement of soil pathogens in the soil feedback responses, and further studies should reveal the functional consequences of the observed high infection with a low diversity of AMF in the roots of exotic plants.     

Effects of soil biota from different ranges on Robinia invasion: acquiring mutualists and escaping pathogens

The net effects of soil biota on exotic invaders can be variable, in part, because net effects are produced by many interacting mutualists and antagonists. Here we compared mutualistic and antagonistic biota in soils collected in the native, expanded, and invasive range of the black locust tree, Robinia pseudoacacia. Robinia formed nodules in all soils with a broad phylogenetic range of N-fixing bacteria, and leaf N did not differ among the different sources of soil. This suggests that the global expansion of Robinia was not limited by the lack of appropriate mutualistic N-fixers. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) from the native range stimulated stronger positive feedbacks than AMF from the expanded or invasive ranges, a biogeographic difference not described previously for invasive plants. Pythium taxa collected from soil in the native range were not more pathogenic than those from other ranges; however, feedbacks produced by the total soil biota were more negative from soils from the native range than from the other ranges, overriding the effects of AMF. This suggests that escape from other pathogens in the soil or the net negative effects of the whole soil community may contribute to superior performance in invaded regions. Our results suggest that important regional evolutionary relationships may occur among plants and soil biota, and that net effects of soil biota may affect invasion, but in ways that are not easily explained by studying isolated components of the soil biota.     

Combining geodiversity with climate and topography to account for threatened species richness

Understanding threatened species diversity is important for long‐term conservation planning. Geodiversity—the diversity of Earth surface materials, forms, and processes—may be a useful biodiversity surrogate for conservation and have conservation value itself. Geodiversity and species richness relationships have been demonstrated; establishing whether geodiversity relates to threatened species’ diversity and distribution pattern is a logical next step for conservation. We used 4 geodiversity variables (rock‐type and soil‐type richness, geomorphological diversity, and hydrological feature diversity) and 4 climatic and topographic variables to model threatened species diversity across 31 of Finland's national parks. We also analyzed rarity‐weighted richness (a measure of site complementarity) of threatened vascular plants, fungi, bryophytes, and all species combined. Our 1‐km² resolution data set included 271 threatened species from 16 major taxa. We modeled threatened species richness (raw and rarity weighted) with boosted regression trees. Climatic variables, especially the annual temperature sum above 5 °C, dominated our models, which is consistent with the critical role of temperature in this boreal environment. Geodiversity added significant explanatory power. High geodiversity values were consistently associated with high threatened species richness across taxa. The combined effect of geodiversity variables was even more pronounced in the rarity‐weighted richness analyses (except for fungi) than in those for species richness. Geodiversity measures correlated most strongly with species richness (raw and rarity weighted) of threatened vascular plants and bryophytes and were weakest for molluscs, lichens, and mammals. Although simple measures of topography improve biodiversity modeling, our results suggest that geodiversity data relating to geology, landforms, and hydrology are also worth including. This reinforces recent arguments that conserving nature's stage is an important principle in conservation.     

CO2-enrichment and nutrient availability alter ectomycorrhizal fungal communities

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), a phylogenetically and physiologically diverse guild, form symbiotic associations with many trees and greatly enhance their uptake of nutrients and water. Elevated CO2, which increases plant carbon supply and demand for mineral nutrients, may change the composition of the EMF community, possibly altering nutrient uptake and ultimately forest productivity. To assess CO2 effects on EMF communities, we sampled mycorrhizae from the FACTS-I (Forest-Atmosphere Carbon Transfer and Storage) research site in Duke Forest, Orange County, North Carolina, USA, where Pinus taeda forest plots are maintained at either ambient or elevated CO2 (200 ppm above ambient) concentrations. Mycorrhizae were identified by DNA sequence similarity of the internal transcribed spacer ribosomal RNA gene region. EMF richness was very high; 72 distinct phylotypes were detected from 411 mycorrhizal samples. Overall EMF richness and diversity were not affected by elevated CO2, but increased CO2 concentrations altered the relative abundances of particular EMF taxa colonizing fine roots, increased prevalence of unique EMF species, and led to greater EMF community dissimilarity among individual study plots. Natural variation among plots in mean potential net nitrogen (N) mineralization rates was a key determinant of EMF community structure; increasing net N mineralization rate was negatively correlated with EMF richness and had differential effects on the abundance of particular EMF taxa. Our results predict that, at CO2 concentrations comparable to that predicted for the year 2050, EMF community composition and structure will change, but diversity will be maintained. In contrast, high soil N concentrations can negatively affect EMF diversity; this underscores the importance of considering CO2 effects on forest ecosystems in the context of background soil chemical parameters and other environmental perturbations such as acid deposition or fertilizer runoff.     

Specificity between Neotropical tree seedlings and their fungal mutualists leads to plant-soil feedback

A growing body of evidence obtained largely from temperate grassland studies suggests that feedbacks occurring between plants and their associated soil biota are important to plant community assemblage. However, few studies have examined the importance of soil organisms in driving plant-soil feedbacks in forested systems. In a tropical forest in central Panama, we examined whether interactions between tree seedlings and their associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) lead to plant-soil feedback. Specifically, do tropical seedlings modify their own AMF communities in a manner that either favors or inhibits the next cohort of conspecific seedlings (i.e., positive or negative feedback, respectively)? Seedlings of two shade-tolerant tree species (Eugenia nesiotica, Virola surinamensis) and two pioneer tree species (Luehea seemannii, Apeiba aspera) were grown in pots containing identical AMF communities composed of equal amounts of inoculum of six co-occurring AMF species. The different AMF-host combinations were all exposed to two light levels. Under low light (2% PAR), only two of the six AMF species sporulated, and we found that host identity did not influence composition of AMF spore communities. However, relative abundances of three of the four AMF species that produced spores were influenced by host identity when grown under high light (20% PAR). Furthermore, spores of one of the AMF species, Glomus geosporum, were common in soils of Luehea and Eugenia but absent in soils of Apeiba and Virola. We then conducted a reciprocal experiment to test whether AMF communities previously modified by Luehea and Apeiba differentially affected the growth of conspecific and heterospecific seedlings. Luehea seedling growth did not differ between soils containing AMF communities modified by Luehea and Apeiba. However, Apeiba seedlings were significantly larger when grown with Apeiba-modified AMF communities, as compared to Apeiba seedlings grown with Luehea-modifed AMF communities. Our experiments suggest that interactions between tropical trees and their associated AMF are species-specific and that these interactions may shape both tree and AMF communities through plant-soil feedback.     

喀斯特生境下AMF侵染对任豆生长的影响

喀斯特地区土壤退化,植被定植更新困难,丛枝菌根真菌(Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,AMF)具有增强植物养分吸收能力和抵抗逆境胁迫能力。研究喀斯特生境下植物与AMF共生效果,选择优势菌种促进喀斯特植被恢复,对于提高植物定植成活率具有重要作用。以豆科植物任豆(Zenia insignis)幼苗为试验材料,盆栽条件下,选取喀斯特优势菌种-摩西球囊霉(Funneliformis mosseae)、根内球囊霉(Rhizophagus intraradices),2种菌根真菌混合菌剂进行接种,培养180 d,研究贫瘠喀斯特土壤生境和养分较高的滇柏林下土壤生境下AMF对任豆生长影响。结果表明:摩西球囊霉、根内球囊霉和混合接种均能侵染任豆根系,幼嫩根系更易侵染,木质化根系侵染率下降。接种摩西球囊霉,贫瘠喀斯特土壤生境下,株高、地径、地上生物量、地下生物量和总生物量分别提高68.92%、56.18%、83.90%、42.20%和67.34%;养分较高的滇柏林下喀斯特土壤生境下,株高、地上生物量、地下生物量和总生物量分别提高48.05%、6.77%、7.92%和8.89%;根内球囊霉处理接种效应低于摩西球囊霉和混合接种处理,对生物量增长为负效应,混合接种处理接种效应介于单接种之间,摩西球囊霉接种效果优于根内球囊霉和混合接种。摩西球囊霉在贫瘠喀斯特土壤生境下发挥的促生效应优于养分较高的喀斯特土壤,可作为喀斯特侵蚀区植被恢复菌根真菌干扰途径的优势菌种,混合接种作为接种剂具有单接种兼容效应。     

Climate vs. soil factors in local adaptation of two common plant species

Evolutionary theory suggests that divergent natural selection in heterogeneous environments can result in locally adapted plant genotypes. To understand local adaptation it is important to study the ecological factors responsible for divergent selection. At a continental scale, variation in climate can be important while at a local scale soil properties could also play a role. We designed an experiment aimed to disentangle the role of climate and (abiotic and biotic) soil properties in local adaptation of two common plant species. A grass (Holcus lanatus) and a legume (Lotus corniculatus), as well as their local soils, were reciprocally transplanted between three sites across an Atlantic-Continental gradient in Europe and grown in common gardens in either their home soil or foreign soils. Growth and reproductive traits were measured over two growing seasons. In both species, we found significant environmental and genetic effects on most of the growth and reproductive traits and a significant interaction between the two environmental effects of soil and climate. The grass species showed significant home site advantage in most of the fitness components, which indicated adaptation to climate. We found no indication that the grass was adapted to local soil conditions. The legume showed a significant home soil advantage for number of fruits only and thus a weak indication of adaptation to soil and no adaptation to climate. Our results show that the importance of climate and soil factors as drivers of local adaptation is species-dependent. This could be related to differences in interactions between plant species and soil biota.     

The impact of tillage practices on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in subtropical crops.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a main component of soil microbiota in most agrosystems. As obligately mutualistic symbionts, they colonize the roots of the majority of plants, including crop plants. We used molecular techniques to investigate how different tillage systems (moldboard, shred-bedding, subsoil-bedding, and no tillage) can influence the AM fungal community colonizing maize, bean, and sorghum roots in an experimental site located in northern Tamaulipas, Mexico. Roots from 36 plants were analyzed using AM fungal-specific primers to partially amplify the small subunit (SSU) of the ribosomal DNA genes. More than 880 clones were screened for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) variation, and 173 of these were sequenced. Ten AM fungal types were identified and clustered into three AM fungal families: Gigasporaceae, Glomaceae, and Paraglomaceae. Glomus was the dominating taxon in all the samples. Four of the 10 identified types were distinct from any previously published sequences and could correspond to either known unsequenced species or unknown species. The fungal diversity was low in the four agriculture management systems, but the multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis and log-linear-saturated model indicated that the composition of the AMF community was significantly affected by the tillage system. In conclusion, since some fungal types were treatment specific, agricultural practices could directly or indirectly influence AM biodiversity.     

Disruption of a belowground mutualism alters interactions between plants and their floral visitors

Plants engage in diverse and intimate interactions with unrelated taxa. For example, aboveground floral visitors provide pollination services, while belowground arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) enhance nutrient capture. Traditionally in ecology, these processes were studied in isolation, reinforcing the prevailing assumption that these above- and belowground processes were also functionally distinct. More recently, there has been a growing realization that the soil surface is not a barrier to many ecological interactions, particularly those involving plants (who live simultaneously above and below ground). Because of the potentially large impact that mycorrhizae and floral visitors can have on plant performance and community dynamics, we designed an experiment to test whether these multi-species mutualisms were interdependent under field conditions. Using benomyl, a widely used fungicide, we suppressed AMF in a native grassland, measuring plant, fungal, and floral-visitor responses after three years of fungal suppression. AMF suppression caused a shift in the community of floral visitors from large-bodied bees to small-bodied bees and flies, and reduced the total number of floral visits per flowering stem 67% across the 23 flowering species found in the plots. Fungal suppression has species-specific effects on floral visits for the six most common flowering plants in this experiment. Exploratory analyses suggest these results were due to changes in floral-visitor behavior due to altered patch-level floral display, rather than through direct effects of AMF suppression on floral morphology. Our findings indicate that AMF are an important, and overlooked, driver of floral-visitor community structure with the potential to affect pollination services. These results support the growing body of research indicating that interactions among ecological interactions can be of meaningful effect size under natural field conditions and may influence individual performance, population dynamics, and community structure.     

Plankton biodiversity along a gradient of productivity and its mediation by macrophytes

We studied the effect of aquatic vegetation on the process of species sorting and community assembly of three functional groups of plankton organisms (phytoplankton, seston-feeding zooplankton, and substrate-dwelling zooplankton) along a primary productivity gradient. We performed an outdoor cattle tank experiment (n = 60) making an orthogonal combination of a primary productivity gradient (four nutrient addition levels: 0, 10, 100, and 1000 microg P/L; N/P ratio: 16) with a vegetation gradient (no macrophytes, artificial macrophytes, and real Elodea nuttallii). We used artificial plants to evaluate the mere effects of plant physical structure independently from other plant effects, such as competition for nutrients or allelopathy. The tanks were inoculated with species-rich mixtures of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Both productivity and macrophytes affected community structure and diversity of the three functional groups. Taxon richness declined with increasing plankton productivity in each functional group according to a nested subset pattern. We found no evidence for unimodal diversity-productivity relationships. The proportional abundance of Daphnia and of colonial Scenedesmus increased strongly with productivity. GLM analyses suggest that the decline in richness of seston feeders was due to competitive exclusion by Daphnia at high productivity. The decline in richness of phytoplankton was probably caused by high Daphnia grazing. However, partial analyses indicate that these explanations do not entirely explain the patterns. Possibly, environmental deterioration associated with high productivity (e.g., high pH) was also responsible for the observed richness decline. Macrophytes had positive effects on the taxon richness of all three functional plankton groups and interacted with the initial productivity gradient in determining their communities. Macrophytes affected the composition and diversity of the three functional groups both by their physical structure and through other mechanisms. Part of the macrophyte effect may be indirect via a reduction of phytoplankton production. Our results also indirectly suggest that the often reported unimodal relationship between primary productivity and diversity in nature may be partially mediated by the tendency of submerged macrophytes to be most abundant at intermediate productivity levels.     

Spatial heterogeneity influences native and nonnative plant species richness

Spatial heterogeneity may have differential effects on the distribution of native and nonnative plant species richness. We examined the effects of spatial heterogeneity on native and nonnative plant species richness distributions in the central part of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Spatial heterogeneity around vegetation plots was characterized using landscape metrics, environmental/topographic variables (slope, aspect, elevation, and distance from stream or river), and soil variables (nitrogen, clay, and sand). The landscape metrics represented five components of landscape heterogeneity and were measured at four spatial extents (within varying radii of 120, 240, 480, and 960 m) using the FRAGSTATS landscape pattern analysis program. Akaike's Information Criterion adjusted for small sample size (AICc) was used to select the best models from a set of multiple linear regression models developed for native and nonnative plant species richness at four spatial extents and three levels of ecological hierarchy (i.e., landscape, land cover, and community). Both native and nonnative plant species richness were positively correlated with edge density, Simpson's diversity index and interspersion/juxtaposition index, and were negatively correlated with mean patch size. The amount of variation explained at four spatial extents and three hierarchical levels ranged from 30% to 70%. At the landscape level, the best models explained 43% of the variation in native plant species richness and 70% of the variation in nonnative plant species richness (240-m extent). In general, the amount of variation explained was always higher for nonnative plant species richness, and the inclusion of landscape metrics always significantly improved the models. The best models explained 66% of the variation in nonnative plant species richness for both the conifer land cover type and lodgepole pine community. The relative influence of the components of spatial heterogeneity differed for native and nonnative plant species richness and varied with the spatial extent of analysis and levels of ecological hierarchy. The study offers an approach to quantify spatial heterogeneity to improve models of plant biodiversity. The results demonstrate that ecologists must recognize the importance of spatial heterogeneity in managing native and nonnative plant species.     

北方农牧交错带不同植被保护及恢复措施物种多样性研究

为研究不同生境类型及不同植被恢复方式植物群落结构特征及物种多样性,本文以位于我国西北农牧交错带的宁夏盐池为研究对象,根据不同植被恢复及保护措施特点,在宁夏盐池布设典型样地。样地类型分为:天然草地、退耕还草地、撂荒地、湿地、人工封育草地、流沙地等6种类型。植被调查采用样线和样方相结合的方法,内容包括:植物名称、株数、盖度、高度、生物量(鲜质量)等。运用生态统计学原理,结合BiodiversityPro、MicrocalOrigin等生态学统计软件对不同样地类型植物进行聚类、多样性指数计量等处理、分析。聚类分析表明:不同植被保护及恢复措施下,植物组成、群落结构、主要建群种等都表现出不同特点,不同样地具有各自不同的优势群落、主要建群种等;多样性指数计量结果表明:不同样地间由于生境类型、植被保护及恢复措施等不同造成样地间物种多样性的差异,湿地由于充足的土壤水分条件,无论是丰富度指数还是综合多样性指数都远高于其他样地类型,综合多样性指数D、H分别为12.783、2.915。此外,退耕还草地和天然草地多样性指数也较高,尤其是退耕还草地,D、H分别为11.514和2.696,是农牧交错带一种较为合理的植被恢复措施;多样性较低的是人工封育草地,D、H分别为2.599、1.576。造成人工封育草地物种多样性较低的主要因素一是随着封育时间的延长,优势种的优势地位不断加强、种间竞争等导致部分物种的消失等原因;二是随着封育时间的增加,土壤结皮加厚,水分入渗率和利用率降低从而导致植物群落衰退。     

全尺度人工湿地中植物多样性对生产力与多样性效应的影响

在中国东南部的全尺度复合垂直流人工湿地中开展2年的植物多样性实验,以研究植物多样性（包括植物物种丰富度和植物组成）对群落生产力与多样性效应（即互补效应、选择效应和净多样性效应）的影响及其产生机制。结果表明,2007年物种丰富度与群落生产力呈线形正相关,而2008年显著的单峰格局,其关系式为：y=-0.213x2＋3.455x＋15.192（R=0.215）。2008年物种丰富度与互补效应呈显著地线形负相关,而2007年呈单峰格局,其关系式为：y=-0.389x2＋6.974x-10.707（R=0.247）,而且2007年与2008年的互补效应与生产力都呈显著的正相关,表明互补效应对生产力的提高有重要作用。然而,2007年与2008年物种丰富度与选择效应之间均没有显著相关性,且选择效应与群落生产力之间也没有显著相关性,表明选择效应对生产力的提高作用不显著。2007年与2008年中物种组成对生产力、互补效应、选择效应与净多样性效应均有显著影响,说明人工湿地的植物配置对其生态系统功能的维持尤为重要。2008年物种丰富度与净多样性效应呈极显著地线形负相关,而2007年呈显著单峰格局,其关系式为：y=-0.329 x2＋5.968 x-12.659（R=0.234）,这种趋势主要是由于植物多样性-生态系统功能关系的影响因素（如物种的竞争力和生态位）在2年中有所变化。同时,2007年与2008年的多样性净效应与生产力都呈显著正相关关系,表明生产力与多样性净效应的变化趋势是同步的。与抽样效应假说不同的是,本实验中单种最高产物种（芦竹）在混种时没有表现出高产,主要是由于生长的分配、资源的竞争力与环境的变化等。     

丛枝菌根真菌对内蒙古草原大针茅群落的影响

使用真菌抑制剂在内蒙古草原开展原位试验,人为创造菌根受抑制和正常两种环境,通过分析菌根侵染率,测定大针茅群落的物种组成、丰富度和多样性等结构指标,分析丛枝菌根真菌对群落结构和净初级生产力的影响。试验结果表明,两种处理群落的菌根侵染率不同,苯菌灵有效地降低了植株的菌根侵染率。丛枝菌根真菌短期内未能对植物群落的物种丰富度、多样性产生影响,未能改变植物群落的结构和净初级生产力。但丛枝菌根真菌的存在,会对植物群落内不同植物种的地上部生物量实现再分配,降低了优势种垄断资源的能力,使群落内物种的生物量和营养元素含量趋于均匀,有利于保护关键种,有利于植被的恢复与重建。因此,研究结论为内蒙古退化草原生态系统的恢复和重建提供了重要的理论依据和参考价值。     

Effects of Dam‐Induced Landscape Fragmentation on Amazonian Ant–Plant Mutualistic Networks

Mutualistic networks are critical to biological diversity maintenance; however, their structures and functionality may be threatened by a swiftly changing world. In the Amazon, the increasing number of dams poses a large threat to biological diversity because they greatly alter and fragment the surrounding landscape. Tight coevolutionary interactions typical of tropical forests, such as the ant–myrmecophyte mutualism, where the myrmecophyte plants provide domatia nesting space to their symbiotic ants, may be jeopardized by the landscape changes caused by dams. We analyzed 31 ant–myrmecophyte mutualistic networks in undisturbed and disturbed sites surrounding Balbina, the largest Central Amazonian dam. We tested how ant–myrmecophyte networks differ among dam‐induced islands, lake edges, and undisturbed forests in terms of species richness, composition, structure, and robustness (number of species remaining in the network after partner extinctions). We also tested how landscape configuration in terms of area, isolation, shape, and neighborhood alters the structure of the ant–myrmecophyte networks on islands. Ant–myrmecophytic networks were highly compartmentalized in undisturbed forests, and the compartments had few strongly connected mutualistic partners. In contrast, networks at lake edges and on islands were not compartmentalized and were negatively affected by island area and isolation in terms of species richness, density, and composition. Habitat loss and fragmentation led to coextinction cascades that contributed to the elimination of entire ant–plant compartments. Furthermore, many myrmecophytic plants in disturbed sites lost their mutualistic ant partners or were colonized by opportunistic, nonspecialized ants. Robustness of ant–myrmecophyte networks on islands was lower than robustness near lake edges and in undisturbed forest and was particularly susceptible to the extinction of plants. Beyond the immediate habitat loss caused by the building of large dams in Amazonia, persistent edge effects and habitat fragmentation associated with dams had large negative effects on animal–plant mutualistic networks. Efectos de la Fragmentación del Paisaje Inducida por Presas sobre Redes Mutualistas Hormiga‐Planta Amazónicas     

Species richness and stand stability in conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada

Theoretical and empirical studies have long suggested that stability and complexity are intimately related, but evidence from long-lived systems at large scales is lacking. Stability can either be driven by complex species interactions, or it can be driven by the presence/absence and abundance of a species best able to perform a specific ecosystem function. We use 64 years of stand productivity measures in forest systems composed of four dominant conifer tree species to contrast the effect of species richness and abundance on three stability measures. To perform this contrast, we measured the annual growth increments of > 900 trees in mixed and pure forest stands to test three hypotheses: increased species richness will (1) decrease stand variance, (2) increase stand resistance to drought events, and (3) increase stand resilience to drought events. In each case, the alternate hypothesis was that species richness had no effect, but that species composition and abundance within a stand drove variance, resistance, and resilience. In pure stands, the four species demonstrated significant differences in productivity, and in their resistance and resilience to drought events. The two pine species were the most drought resistant and resilient, whereas mountain hemlock was the least resistant and resilient, and red fir was intermediate. For community measures we found a moderately significant (P = 0.08) increase in the community coefficient of variation and a significant (P = 0.03) increase in resilience with increased species richness, but no significant relationship between species richness and community resistance, though the variance in community resistance to drought decreased with species richness. Community resistance to drought was significantly (P = 0.001) correlated to the relative abundance of lodgepole pine, the most resistant species. We propose that resistance is driven by competition for a single limiting resource, with negative diversity effects. In contrast resilience measures the capacity of communities to partition resources in the absence of a single limiting resource, demonstrating positive diversity effects.     

The effect of positive interactions on community structure in a multi-species metacommunity model along an environmental gradient

Positive interactions are widely recognized as playing a major role in the organization of community structure and diversity. As such, recent theoretical and empirical works have revealed the significant contribution of positive interactions in shaping species’ geographical distributions, particularly in harsh abiotic conditions. In this report, we explore the joint influence of local dispersal and an environmental gradient on the spatial distribution, structure and function of communities containing positive interactions. While most previous theoretical efforts were limited to modelling the dynamics of single pairs of associated species being mutualist or competitor, here we employ a spatially explicit multi-species metacommunity model covering a rich range of interspecific interactions (mutualism, competition and exploitation) along an environmental gradient. We find that mutualistic interactions dominate in communities with low diversity characterized by limited species dispersal and poor habitat quality. On the other hand, the fraction of mutualistic interactions decreases at the expense of exploitation and competition with the increase in diversity caused by higher dispersal and/or habitat quality. Our multi-species model exemplifies the ubiquitous presence of mutualistic interactions and the role of mutualistic species as facilitators for the further establishment of species during ecosystem assembly. We therefore argue that mutualism is an essential component driving the origination of complex and diverse communities.     

Plant species differ in their ability to reduce allocation to non-beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Theory suggests that cheaters threaten the persistence of mutualisms, but that sanctions to prevent cheating can stabilize mutualisms. In the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, reports of parasitism suggest that reductions in plant carbon allocation are not universally effective. I asked whether plant species differences in mycorrhizal responsiveness would affect both their susceptibility to parasitism and their reduction in allocation to non-beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in high-phosphorus soils. In a greenhouse experiment, I found that two C3 grasses, Bromus inermis and Elymus repens, effectively suppressed root colonization and AMF hyphal abundance. Increases in soil phosphorus did not reduce the degree to which AMF increased plant biomass. In contrast, two C4 grasses, Andropogon gerardii and Schizachyrium scoparium, more weakly reduced root colonization and failed to suppress AMF hyphal abundance. Consequently, they experienced strong declines in their response to AMF, and one species suffered parasitism. Thus, species differ in susceptibility to parasitism and their reduction in allocation to non-beneficial AMF. These differences may affect the distribution and abundance of plants and AMF, as well as the stability of the mutualism.