2023/08/10 by Inga Hiiesalu, Johannes Schweichhart, Roey Angel +5 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions #Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies #Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
paper · doi:10.1093/femsec/fiad092
openalex publication_date 2023/08/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can benefit plants under environmental stress, and influence plant adaptation to warmer climates. However, very little is known about the ecology of these fungi in alpine environments. We sampled plant roots along a large fraction (1941-6150 m asl (above sea level)) of the longest terrestrial elevational gradient on Earth and used DNA metabarcoding to identify AM fungi. We hypothesized that AM fungal alpha and beta diversity decreases with increasing elevation, and that different vegetation types comprise dissimilar communities, with cultured (putatively ruderal) taxa increasingly represented at high elevations. We found that the alpha diversity of AM fungal communities declined linearly with elevation, whereas within-site taxon turnover (beta diversity) was unimodally related to elevation. The composition of AM fungal communities differed between vegetation types and was influenced by elevation, mean annual temperature, and precipitation. In general, Glomeraceae taxa dominated at all elevations and vegetation types; however, higher elevations were associated with increased presence of Acaulosporaceae, Ambisporaceae, and Claroideoglomeraceae. Contrary to our expectation, the proportion of cultured AM fungal taxa in communities decreased with elevation. These results suggest that, in this system, climate-induced shifts in habitat conditions may facilitate more diverse AM fungal communities at higher elevations but could also favour ruderal taxa.