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(1) Background: Understanding the diversity of communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is the basis for understanding the ecological functions of AMF. (2) Methods: The community diversity and distribution of AMF at different elevations in tropical montane rainforests of Mt. Jianfenfling and Mt. Diaoluo were explored using high-throughput sequencing technology. (3) Results: A total of 283 AMF operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from roots and the number of unique OTUs was 173, accounting for 61.13% of the total number discovered in these tropical montane rainforests. At different altitudes, high turnovers of AMF were observed, with the maximum proportion of unique OTUs between two altitudes being 45.16%, recorded between a.s.l. 250 m and 900 m on Mt. Diaoluo. The highest Sobs, Shannon and Pielou diversity indices appeared at 650 m on Mt. Diaoluo. For the two mountains, the soil properties of C, N and C/N have significant impacts on the genera Scutellospora, Paraglomus and unclassified in Archaeosporaceae, while the genera Glomus, Diversispora and Acaulospora are significantly affected by soil P and pH. It can be considered that altitude probably determines the presence of AMF communities by affecting edaphic properties. (4) Conclusions: There are abundant AMF associated with roots in the tropical montane rainforests of China. Furthermore, a high turnover of OTUs was found to exist between the mountains and at different altitudes, revealing diverse AMF community structures in tropical montane rainforests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: environmental gradient strongly affects microbial biodiversity, but which factors drive the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associated with roots at relatively large spatial scales requires further research; (2) Methods: an experiment on large spatial scales of Mt. Taibai was conducted to explore the biodiversity and drivers of AMF-associated with roots using high-throughput sequencing; (3) Results: a total of 287 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belong to 62 species representing 4 identified and 1 unclassified order were identified along different altitudinal gradients. With increasing altitude, AMF colonization could be simulated by a quadratic function trend, and altitude has a significant impact on colonization. AMF alpha diversity, including the Sobs and Shannon indexes, tended to be quadratic function trends with increasing altitude. The highest diversity indices occurred at mid-altitudes, and altitude had a significant effect on them. AMF communities have different affinities with soil and root nutrient, and Glomus is most affected by soil and root nutrient factors through the analysis of the heatmap. Glomus are the most dominant, with an occurrence frequency of 91.67% and a relative abundance of 61.29% and 53.58% at the level of species and OTU, respectively. Furthermore, AMF diversity were mostly associated with soil and root nutrients; (4) Conclusions: in general, AMF molecular diversity is abundant in Mt. Taibai, and altitude and nutrient properties of soil and root are the main influencing factors on AMF diversity and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycorrhizas play a vital role in ecosystem function, diversity and productivity. However, mycorrhizas in tropical forests are considered to be a neglected area of research in contrast to the well-studied diversity patterns of macro organisms. To this end, soil samples from 0 to 30 cm in depth were collected from six or four elevations in a typical tropical forest of Mt. Jianfeng and Mt. Diaoluo in China. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) diversity and community composition were explored among different elevations based on high-throughput barcoded sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Environmental variables of soil characteristics, and elevation on AMF community assembly were analyzed using canonical correspondence analysis. In total, 316 AMF operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found to belong to four identified and one unclassified order, and Glomus was the most dominant genus in tropical forest. AMF communities or diversity did not clearly reflect local environmental conditions, the spatial distance between mountains and elevation. In total, 68% and 56% of taxa of AMF were observed on multiple elevations in Mt. Jianfeng and Mt. Diaoluo, respectively. Furthermore, 8.9% and 19% of OTUs were exhibited on all elevations in Mt. Jianfeng and Mt. Diaoluo, respectively. The AMF alpha diversity, richness and evenness were similar across the two surveyed tropical mountains. The influence of elevation showed no distinct role on the diversity of AMF taxa. Overall, AMF communities and diversity are abundant in tropical forests and with little influence of elevation in tropical forests of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]