Crop diversity enriches arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in an intensive agricultural landscape

• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are keystone symbionts of agricultural soils but agricultural intensification has negatively impacted AMF communities. Increasing crop diversity could ameliorate some of these impacts by positively affecting AMF. However, the underlying relationship between plant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 2021-07, Vol.231 (1), p.447-459
Main Authors: Guzman, Aidee, Montes, Marisol, Hutchins, Leslie, DeLaCerda, Gisel, Yang, Paula, Kakouridis, Anne, Dahlquist-Willard, Ruth M., Firestone, Mary K., Bowles, Timothy, Kremen, Claire
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agricultural diversification
Agricultural ecosystems
Agricultural land
agroecosystem multifunctionality
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)
Arbuscular mycorrhizas
Colonization
Community composition
Composition
Crop diversification
crop diversity
Crops
Farm management
Farms
field studies
Fungi
Intensive farming
Landscape
Monoculture
Monoculture (aquaculture)
Plant diversity
Polyculture
Soil properties
Soil structure
Sustainability
Symbionts
Tillage
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Summary:• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are keystone symbionts of agricultural soils but agricultural intensification has negatively impacted AMF communities. Increasing crop diversity could ameliorate some of these impacts by positively affecting AMF. However, the underlying relationship between plant diversity and AMF community composition has not been fully resolved. • We examined how greater crop diversity affected AMF across farms in an intensive agricultural landscape, defined by high nutrient input, low crop diversity and high tillage frequency. We assessed AMF communities across 31 field sites that were either monocultures or polycultures (growing > 20 different crop types) in three ways: richness, diversity and composition. We also determined root colonization across these sites. • We found that polycultures drive the available AMF community into richer and more diverse communities while soil properties structure AMF community composition. AMF root colonization did not vary by farm management (monocultures vs polycultures), but did vary by crop host. • We demonstrate that crop diversity enriches AMF communities, counteracting the negative effects of agricultural intensification on AMF, providing the potential to increase agroecosystem functioning and sustainability.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.17306