Lost in diversity: the interactions between soil-borne fungi, biodiversity and plant productivity

There is consensus that plant species richness enhances plant productivity within natural grasslands, but the underlying drivers remain debated. Recently, differential accumulation of soil-borne fungal pathogens across the plant diversity gradient has been proposed as a cause of this pattern. However, the below-ground environment has generally been treated as a 'black box' in biodiversity experiments, leaving these fungi unidentified. Using next generation sequencing and pathogenicity assays, we analysed the community composition of root-associated fungi from a biodiversity experiment to examine if evidence exists for host specificity and negative density dependence in the interplay between soil-borne fungi, plant diversity and productivity. Plant species were colonised by distinct (pathogenic) fungal communities and isolated fungal species showed negative, species-specific effects on plant growth. Moreover, 57% of the pathogenic fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) recorded in plant monocultures were not detected in eight plant species plots, suggesting a loss of pathogenic OTUs with plant diversity. Our work provides strong evidence for host specificity and negative density-dependent effects of root-associated fungi on plant species in grasslands. Our work substantiates the hypothesis that fungal root pathogens are an important driver of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mommer, L., Cotton, Anne, Raaijmakers, J.M., Termorshuizen, A.J., van Ruijven, J., Hendriks, Marloes, van Rijssel, Sophie, van de Mortel, J.E., van der Paauw, J.W.M., Schijlen, E.G.W.M., Smit-Tiekstra, Annemiek, Berendse, F., de Kroon, Hans, Dumbrell, A.J.
Format: Article/Letter to editor biblioteca
Language:English
Subjects:density dependence, fungal community composition, host specificity, neighbour identity, root distribution, root-associated fungi,
Online Access:https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/lost-in-diversity-the-interactions-between-soil-borne-fungi-biodi
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