title: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities from tropical Africa reveal strong ecological structure.
abstract: Understanding the distribution and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the rules that govern AMF assemblages has been hampered by a lack of data from natural ecosystems. In addition, the current knowledge on AMF diversity is biased towards temperate ecosystems, whereas little is known about other habitats such as dry tropical ecosystems. We explored the diversity and structure of AMF communities in grasslands, savannas, dry forests and miombo in a protected area under dry tropical climate (Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique) using 454 pyrosequencing. In total, 147 AMF virtual taxa (VT) were detected, including 22 VT new to science. We found a high turnover of AMF with ˂ 12% of VT present in all vegetation types. Forested areas supported more diverse AMF communities than savannas and grassland. Miombo woodlands had the highest AMF richness, number of novel VT, and number of exclusive and indicator taxa. Our data reveal a sharp differentiation of AMF communities between forested areas and periodically flooded savannas and grasslands. This marked ecological structure of AMF communities provides the first comprehensive landscape-scale evidence that, at the background of globally low endemism of AMF, local communities are shaped by regional processes including environmental filtering by edaphic properties and natural disturbance.
authors: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cda Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Susana
authors: 0000-0002-2058-3229
authors: S
authors: Rodríguez-Echeverría
authors: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cda Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Helena
authors: H
authors: Teixeira
authors: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cda Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Correia
authors: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cda Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.|School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.
authors: Sérgio
authors: S
authors: Timóteo
authors: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cda Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Ruben
authors: R
authors: Heleno
authors: Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai St, 51005, Tartu, Estonia.
authors: Maarja
authors: 0000-0001-8025-7460
authors: M
authors: Öpik
authors: Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai St, 51005, Tartu, Estonia.
authors: Mari
authors: M
authors: Moora
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D055137:Glomeromycota / Q000502:physiology*; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000502:physiology*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: African savannas; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF); diversity; flooding; miombo; pyrosequencing; soil properties