Partitioning of soil phosphorus among arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal trees in tropical and subtropical forests

Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2018-05, Vol.21 (5), p.713-723
Main Authors: Liu, Xubing, Burslem, David F. R. P., Taylor, Joe D., Taylor, Andy F. S., Khoo, Eyen, Majalap‐Lee, Noreen, Helgason, Thorunn, Johnson, David, Klironomos, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arbuscular mycorrhizas
Coexistence
Colonization
Ectomycorrhizas
Extracellular matrix
Forests
Fungi
Mycorrhizal fungi
Partitioning
phosphate
Phosphorus
Phytic acid
Plant diversity
Rainforests
resource partitioning
seedling growth
soil organic phosphorus
Soils
Species
Trees
tropical and subtropical forests
Tropical forests
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Summary:Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both tropical and subtropical forests. Both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees responded positively to addition of inorganic P, but strikingly, ECM trees acquired more P from a complex organic form (phytic acid). Most ECM tree species and all AM tree species also showed some capacity to take up simple organic P (monophosphate). Mycorrhizal colonisation was negatively correlated with soil extractable P concentration, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may regulate organic P acquisition among tree species. Our results support the hypothesis that ECM and AM plants partition soil P sources, which may play an ecologically important role in promoting species coexistence in tropical and subtropical forests.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12939