Record ID No. |
77 |
Author(s) |
van der Heijden M.G.A., Streitwolf-Engel R., Riedl R. , Siegrist S., Neudecker A., Ineichen K., Boller T., Wiemken A., Sanders I.R. , 2006 |
Affiliation |
Free University Amsterdam, Institute of Ecological Science, Boelelaan 1085, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Title |
The mycorrhizal contribution to plant productivity, plant nutrition and soil structure in experimental grasslandnutrition and soil structure in experimental grassland |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
New phytologist. 172(4):739-752p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Soil plant relations |
Sub-subjects |
Nutrition |
Host |
Grasses |
Organism |
n.a. |
Country |
Netherlands, Europe |
Abstracts |
Previous studies have shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungi (AMF) can influence plant diversity and ecosystem
productivity. However, little is known about the effects of AMF
and different AMF taxa on other important community properties
such as nutrient acquisition, plant survival and soil structure.
We established experimental grassland microcosms and tested the
impact of AMF and of different AMF taxa on a number of grassland
characteristics. We also tested whether plant species benefited
from the same or different AMF taxa in subsequent growing
seasons. AMF enhanced phosphorus acquisition, soil aggregation
and survival of several plant species, but AMF did not increase
total plant productivity. Moreover, AMF increased nitrogen
acquisition by some plant species, but AMF had no effect on
total N uptake by the plant community. Plant growth responses to
AMF were temporally variable and some plant species obtained the
highest biomass with different AMF in different years. Hence the
results indicate that it may be beneficial for a plant to be
colonized by different AMF taxa in different seasons. This study
shows that AMF play a key role in grassland by improving plant
nutrition and soil structure, and by regulating the make-up of
the plant community
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