Environmental and host filtering of ectomycorrhizal fungi at large scales

200-201

Artikel aus einer Zeitschrift

200206865

Understanding the large-scale diversity and distribution of soil organisms that drive biogeochemical processes and responses to environmental change remains a contentious field of study; there is a generally acknowledged lack of consistent drivers of diversity and abundance at large spatial scales. Here we investigate ectomycorrhizal fungi at unprecedented scale and resolution across European forests to test for key biotic and abiotic environmental predictors, identify dominant responses and thresholds across complex gradients of environmental variables, and investigate whether there is plasticity in traits.Across Europe we sampled 137 level II plotsof ICP Forests; one of the most extensive biomonitoring networks on Earth in which the effects of pollution and changes in forest soil quality have been closely monitored.We show the effect of 38 host, environment, climate and geographical variables on ectomycorrhizal diversity, and define thresholds of community change for key variables. We quantify host specificity and reveal plasticity in functional traits involved in soil foraging across gradients. We conclude that environmental and host factors explain most of the variation in ectomycorrhizal diversity, that the environmental thresholds used
as major ecosystem assessment tools need adjustment and that the importance of belowground specificity and plasticity has previously been underappreciated.