Abstract
There is a great interest in ecology in understanding the role of soil microbial diversity for plant productivity and coexistence. Recent research has shown increases in species richness of mutualistic soil fungi, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), to be related to increases in aboveground productivity of plant communities. However, the impact of AMF richness on plant-plant interactions has not been determined. Moreover, it is unknown whether species-rich AMF communities can act as insurance to maintain productivity in a fluctuating environment (e.g., upon changing soil conditions). We tested the impact of four different AMF taxa and of AMF diversity (no AMF, single AMF taxa, and all four together) on competitive interactions between the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum grown under two different soil conditions of low and high sand content. We hypothesized that more diverse mutualistic interactions (e.g., when four AMF taxa are present) can ease competitive effects between plants, increase plant growth, and maintain plant productivity across different soil environments. We used quantitative PCR to verify that AMF taxa inoculated at the beginning of the experiment were still present at the end. The presence of AMF reduced the competitive inequality between the two plant species by reducing the growth suppression of the legume by the grass. High AMF richness enhanced the combined biomass production of the two plant species and the yield of the legume, particularly in the more productive soil with low sand content. In the less productive (high sand content) soil, the single most effective AMF had an equally beneficial effect on plant productivity as the mixture of four AMF. Since contributions of single AMF to plant productivity varied between both soils, higher AMF richness would be required to maintain plant productivity in heterogeneous environments. Overall this work shows that AMF diversity promotes plant productivity and that AMF diversity can act as insurance to sustain plant productivity under changing environmental conditions.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Inoculated AMF taxa remained present at experiment end.
Verbatim
e0“We used quantitative PCR to verify that AMF taxa inoculated at the beginning of the experiment were still present at the end.”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF reduced competitive inequality between the plant species.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratense
Trifolium pratensee1 - Treatment
- presence of AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- competitive inequality between the two plant speciese0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The presence of AMF reduced the competitive inequality between the two plant species by reducing the growth suppression of the legume by the grass.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF reduced growth suppression of the legume by the grass.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratenseTrifolium pratensee1
- Treatment
- presence of AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Second interactor
- grasse0other
- Outcome
- growth suppression of the legume by the grasse0
- Direction
- reducinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The presence of AMF reduced the competitive inequality between the two plant species by reducing the growth suppression of the legume by the grass.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
High AMF richness enhanced combined biomass of both plant species, particularly in low-sand soil.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum
Lolium multiflorumTrifolium pratensee1 - Treatment
- High AMF richnesse0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- combined biomass production of the two plant speciese0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- more productive soil with low sand contente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“High AMF richness enhanced the combined biomass production of the two plant species and the yield of the legume, particularly in the more productive soil with low sand content.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
High AMF richness enhanced legume yield, particularly in low-sand soil.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratenseTrifolium pratensee1
- Treatment
- High AMF richnesse0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- yield of the legumee0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- more productive soil with low sand contente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“High AMF richness enhanced the combined biomass production of the two plant species and the yield of the legume, particularly in the more productive soil with low sand content.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
In high-sand soil the most effective single AMF benefited productivity as much as the four-AMF mixture.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorumLolium multiflorumTrifolium pratensee1
- Treatment
- single most effective AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- plant productivitye0
- Direction
- equally beneficiale0
- Qualifier
- high sand contente0
- Comparator
- mixture of four AMFe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In the less productive (high sand content) soil, the single most effective AMF had an equally beneficial effect on plant productivity as the mixture of four AMF.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
Individual AMF contributions to productivity varied between soils.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorumLolium multiflorumTrifolium pratensee1
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- plant productivitye0
- Qualifier
- between both soilse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Since contributions of single AMF to plant productivity varied between both soils, higher AMF richness would be required to maintain plant productivity in heterogeneous environments.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors infer that higher AMF richness is required to maintain productivity in heterogeneous environments.
- Taxon
- Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorumLolium multiflorumTrifolium pratensee1
- Treatment
- higher AMF richnesse0
- Outcome
- maintain plant productivity in heterogeneous environmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“higher AMF richness would be required to maintain plant productivity in heterogeneous environments.”
e1“the legume Trifolium pratense and the grass Lolium multiflorum”
The same questions in other papers
mycorrhiza · yield · Trifolium pratense (red clover)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.