Land-use intensity and host plant simultaneously shape the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in a Mediterranean drained peatland.
Land-use change is known to be a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services in Mediterranean areas. However, the potential for different host plants to modulate the effect of land-use intensification on community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is still poorly understood. To test the hypothesis that low land-use intensity promotes AMF diversity at different taxonomic scales and to determine whether any response is dependent upon host plant species identity, we characterised AMF communities in the roots of 10 plant species across four land use types of differing intensity in a Mediterranean peatland system. AMF were identified using 454 pyrosequencing. This revealed an overall low level of AMF richness in the peaty soils; lowest AMF richness in the intense cropping system at both virtual taxa and family level; strong modulation by the host plant of the impact of land-use intensification on AMF communities at the virtual taxa level; and a significant effect of land-use intensification on AMF communities at the family level. These findings have implications for understanding ecosystem stability and productivity and should be considered when developing soil-improvement strategies in fragile ecosystems, such as Mediterranean peatlands.
Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy v.ciccolini@sssup.it.
Valentina
V
Ciccolini
Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
Laura
L
Ercoli
Department of Botany, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
John
J
Davison
Department of Botany, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
Martti
M
Vasar
Department of Botany, University of Tartu, 40 Lai Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
Maarja
M
Öpik
Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
Elisa
E
Pellegrino
D000383:Agriculture; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D055137:Glomeromycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
D012987:Soil
454 pyrosequencing; SSU rRNA gene; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity; community composition; host preference; land use