Record ID No. |
1923 |
Author(s) |
Wilson G. W. T., Rice C. W., Rillig M. C., Springer A., Hartnett D. C. , 2009 |
Affiliation |
Oklahoma State University, Department of Natural Resource Ecol & Management, Stillwater,OK 74078 USA |
Title |
Soil aggregation and carbon sequestration are tightly correlated with the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: results from long-term field experiments |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
Ecology Letters. 12(5): 452-461p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Biochemistry |
Sub-subjects |
Miscellaneous |
Country |
U.S.A. |
Abstracts |
We examined the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in ecosystems using soil aggregate stability and C and N storage as representative ecosystem processes. We utilized a wide gradient in AMF abundance, obtained through long-term (17 and 6 years) large-scale field manipulations. Burning and N-fertilization increased soil AMF hyphae, glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) pools and water-stable
macroaggregates while fungicide applications reduced AMF hyphae, GRSP and water-stable macroaggregates. We
found that AMF abundance was a surprisingly dominant factor explaining the vast majority of variability in soil aggregation. This experimental field study, involving long-term diverse management practices of native
multispecies prairie communities, invariably showed a close positive correlation between AMF hyphal abundance and soil aggregation, and C and N sequestration. This highly significant linear correlation suggests there are serious consequences to the loss of AMF from ecosystems.
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