TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental drivers of ectomycorrhizal communities in Europe's temperate oak forests
AU - Suz, Laura M
AU - Barsoum, Nadia
AU - Benham, Sue
AU - Dietrich, Hans Peter
AU - Fetzer, Karl Dieter
AU - Fischer, Richard
AU - Garcia, Paloma
AU - Gehrman, Joachim
AU - Kristöfel, Ferdinand
AU - Manninger, Miklos
AU - Neagu, Stefan
AU - Nicolas, Manuel
AU - Oldenburger, Jan
AU - Raspe, Stephan
AU - Sanchez, Gerardo
AU - Schröck, Hans Werner
AU - Schubert, Andrea
AU - Verheyen, Kris
AU - Verstraeten, Arne
AU - Bidartondo, Martin I
PY - 2014/9/26
Y1 - 2014/9/26
N2 - Ectomycorrhizal fungi are major ecological players in temperate forests, but they are rarely used in measures of forest condition because large-scale, high-resolution, standardized and replicated belowground data are scarce. We carried out an analysis of ectomycorrhizas at 22 intensively monitored long-term oak plots, across nine European countries, covering complex natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients. We found that at large scales, mycorrhizal richness and evenness declined with decreasing soil pH and root density, and with increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Shifts in mycorrhizas with different functional traits were detected; mycorrhizas with structures specialized for long-distance transport related differently to most environmental variables than those without. The dominant oak-specialist Lactarius quietus, with limited soil exploration abilities, responds positively to increasing nitrogen inputs and decreasing pH. In contrast, Tricholoma, Cortinarius and Piloderma species, with medium-distance soil exploration abilities, show a consistently negative response. We also determined nitrogen critical loads for moderate (9.5–13.5 kg N/ha/year) and drastic (17 kg N/ha/year) changes in belowground mycorrhizal root communities in temperate oak forests. Overall, we generated the first baseline data for ectomycorrhizal fungi in the oak forests sampled, identified nitrogen pollution as one of their major drivers at large scales and revealed fungi that individually and/or in combination with others can be used as belowground indicators of environmental characteristics.
AB - Ectomycorrhizal fungi are major ecological players in temperate forests, but they are rarely used in measures of forest condition because large-scale, high-resolution, standardized and replicated belowground data are scarce. We carried out an analysis of ectomycorrhizas at 22 intensively monitored long-term oak plots, across nine European countries, covering complex natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients. We found that at large scales, mycorrhizal richness and evenness declined with decreasing soil pH and root density, and with increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Shifts in mycorrhizas with different functional traits were detected; mycorrhizas with structures specialized for long-distance transport related differently to most environmental variables than those without. The dominant oak-specialist Lactarius quietus, with limited soil exploration abilities, responds positively to increasing nitrogen inputs and decreasing pH. In contrast, Tricholoma, Cortinarius and Piloderma species, with medium-distance soil exploration abilities, show a consistently negative response. We also determined nitrogen critical loads for moderate (9.5–13.5 kg N/ha/year) and drastic (17 kg N/ha/year) changes in belowground mycorrhizal root communities in temperate oak forests. Overall, we generated the first baseline data for ectomycorrhizal fungi in the oak forests sampled, identified nitrogen pollution as one of their major drivers at large scales and revealed fungi that individually and/or in combination with others can be used as belowground indicators of environmental characteristics.
M3 - A1: Web of Science-article
SN - 0962-1083
VL - 23 (22)
SP - 5628
EP - 5644
JO - Molecular Ecology
JF - Molecular Ecology
ER -