title: Habitat-driven variation in mycorrhizal communities in the terrestrial orchid genus Dactylorhiza.
abstract: Orchid species are critically dependent on mycorrhizal fungi for completion of their life cycle, particularly during the early stages of their development when nutritional resources are scarce. As such, orchid mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the population dynamics, abundance, and spatial distribution of orchid species. However, less is known about the ecology and distribution of orchid mycorrhizal fungi. In this study, we used 454 amplicon pyrosequencing to investigate ecological and geographic variation in mycorrhizal associations in fourteen species of the orchid genus Dactylorhiza. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that variation in orchid mycorrhizal communities resulted primarily from differences in habitat conditions where the species were growing. The results showed that all investigated Dactylorhiza species associated with a large number of fungal OTUs, the majority belonging to the Tulasnellaceae, Ceratobasidiaceae and Sebacinales. Mycorrhizal specificity was low, but significant variation in mycorrhizal community composition was observed between species inhabiting different ecological habitats. Although several fungi had a broad geographic distribution, Species Indicator Analysis revealed some fungi that were characteristic for specific habitats. Overall, these results indicate that orchid mycorrhizal fungi may have a broad geographic distribution, but that their occurrence is bounded by specific habitat conditions.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Biology, Plant Conservation and Population Biology, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacquemyn
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Biology, Plant Conservation and Population Biology, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.|KU Leuven, Campus De Nayer, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M2S), Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management (PME&BIM), B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Waud
authors.affiliation: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Vincent S F T
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Merckx
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Biology, Plant Conservation and Population Biology, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Rein
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brys
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Centre (BDIV), Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tyteca
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Biodiversity, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, S-22362 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hedrén
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Campus De Nayer, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M2S), Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management (PME&BIM), B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lievens
mesh_terms: D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D058889:Molecular Typing; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000235:genetics*; D029595:Orchidaceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal