Record ID No. |
6156 |
Author(s) |
Veresoglou S. D.*, Chen B., Fischer M. M., Helgason T., Mamolos A. P., Rillig M. C., Roldán A. and Johnson D. , 2019 |
Affiliation |
* Plant Ecology, Institut für Biologie, Freie Universtat Berlin, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. |
Title |
Latitudinal constraints in responsiveness of plants to arbuscular mycorrhiza: the 'sun-worshipper' hypothesis. |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
New Phytologist. 224(2): 552-556. |
Categories |
Mycorrhiza General |
Subjects |
Ecology |
Host |
NA |
Organism |
NA |
Country |
Germany |
Abstracts |
Most terrestrial plants depend strongly on associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Subphylum: Glomeromycotina) to establish and survive and have evolved a nutritional mutualism. In this mutualism, the plant provides carbon to the fungus, usually subject to the availability of light , and the fungus provides the plant with mineral nutrients acquired from soil. Because of light constraints, it is expected that latitude exerts a strong influence on reciprocal exchange of resources between mycorrhizal plants and fungi, and this could have consequences on the responsiveness of plants to mycorrhizal fungi. Latitude induces changes in the amount of solar energy and the timing when this is made available to primary producers during the year and in the day. At the same time, there is a strong negative relationship between latitude and temperature that may also impact the functioning of the mycorrhizal symbiosis, and in some cases (e.g. in north temperate systems), a general relationship between latitude and several edaphic factors. There is compelling evidence that the alpha‐diversity of Glomeromycotinian fungi, which form AM symbioses, decreases with latitude. This finding can be partially explained by the transition from ecosystems dominated by AM host plants in the tropics, to ectomycorrhizal and ericoid mycorrhizal dominated ecosystems at higher latitudes. We know less about the extent to which latitude impacts the functioning of AM symbioses, which could occur either through latitudinal differences in solar radiation or resulting changes in temperature. Here, we propose the ‘sun‐worshipper’ hypothesis that discriminates three different types of underlying responses of latitudinal gradient‐induced changes in plant host mycorrhizal responsiveness. |