Search

Abstract: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can affect insect herbivores by changing plant growth and chemistry. However, many factors can influence the symbiotic relationship between plant and fungus, potentially obscuring experimental treatments and ecosystem impacts. In a field experiment, we assessed AMF colonization levels of individual ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) plants growing in grassland plots that were originally sown with 15 or 4 plant species, or were unsown. We measured the concentrations of carbon, nitrogen and pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), and assessed the presence of aboveground insect herbivores on the sampled plants. Total AMF colonization and colonization by arbuscules was lower in plots sown with 15 species than in plots sown with 4 species and unsown plots. AMF colonization was positively related to the cover of oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and a positive relationship between colonization by arbuscules and the occurrence of a specialist seed-feeding fly (Pegohylemyia seneciella) was found. The occurrence of stem-boring, leaf-mining and sap-sucking insects was not affected by AMF colonization. Total PA concentrations were negatively related to colonization levels by vesicles, but did not differ among the sowing treatments. No single factor explained the observed differences in AMF colonization among the sowing treatments or insect herbivore occurrence on S. jacobaea. However, correlations across the treatments suggest that some of the variation was due to the abundance of one plant species, which is known to stimulate AMF colonization of neighbouring plants, while AMF colonization was related to the occurrence of a specialist insect herbivore. Our results thus illustrate that in natural systems, the ecosystem impact of AMF through their influence on the occurrence of specialist insects can be recognised, but they also highlight the confounding effect of neighbouring plant species identity. Hence, our results emphasise the importance of field studies to elucidate interactions between AMF and organisms of different trophic levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The productivity and diversity of plant communities are affected by soil organisms such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), root herbivores and decomposers. However, it is unknown how interactions between such functionally dissimilar soil organisms affect plant communities and whether the combined effects are additive or interactive. In a greenhouse experiment we investigated the individual and combined effects of AMF (five Glomus species), root herbivores (wireworms and nematodes) and decomposers (collembolans and enchytraeids) on the productivity and nutrient content of a model grassland plant community as well as on soil microbial biomass and community structure. The effects of the soil organisms on productivity (total plant biomass), total root biomass, grass and forb biomass, and nutrient uptake of the plant community were additive. AMF decreased, decomposers increased and root herbivores had no effect on productivity, but in combination the additive effects canceled each other out. AMF reduced total root biomass by 18%, but decomposers increased it by 25%, leading to no net effect on total root biomass in the combined treatments. Total shoot biomass was reduced by 14% by root herbivores and affected by an interaction between AMF and decomposers where decomposers had a positive impact on shoot growth only in presence of AMF. AMF increased the shoot biomass of forbs, but reduced the shoot biomass of grasses, while root herbivores only reduced the shoot biomass of grasses. Interactive effects of the soil organisms were detected on the shoot biomasses of Lotus corniculatus, Plantago lanceolata, and Agrostis capillaris. The C/N ratio of the plant community was affected by AMF. In soil, AMF promoted abundances of bacterial, actinomycete, saprophytic and AMF fatty acid markers. Decomposers alone decreased bacterial and actinomycete fatty acids abundances but when decomposers were interacting with herbivores those abundances were increased. Our results suggests that at higher resolutions, i.e. on the levels of individual plant species and the microbial community, interactive effects are common but do not affect the overall productivity and nutrient uptake of a grassland plant community, which is mainly affected by additive effects of functionally dissimilar soil organisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]