Insight into the assembly process of angiosperms and arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi in tropical wetland ecosystems

• Published in: Plant ecology & diversity Vol. 17; no. 3-4; pp. 103 - 121
• Main Authors: Mañé-Duarte, María de la Paz, Guadarrama, Patricia, Hernández-Cuevas, Laura, Salinas-Peba, Luis, Angulo, Diego F., Ramos-Zapata, José
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 03.07.2024
• Subjects: clustering patterns; Community assembly; fungi; phylogenetic diversity; phylogenetic stochasticity; phylogeny; plant communities; soil; vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae; wetland; wetlands
• ISSN: 1755-0874; 1755-1668; 1755-1668
• DOI: 10.1080/17550874.2024.2422311

Plant assembly is predominantly influenced by deterministic mechanisms such as environmental filters and limiting similarity, operating simultaneously with stochastic processes. The fungal community assembly was determined by random patterns, suggesting that stochastic processes govern them and emphasising the importance of dispersal limitations and ecological drift. The assembly of plant communities in flooded areas was influenced by environmental filters, which have selected specialised traits such as adventitious roots, conferring stress adaptations that enable these plants to inhabit flooded sites. High levels of species richness and phylogenetic diversity in AM fungi do not always promote high levels of species richness and phylogenetic diversity in plants and that this assumption was true only for the coastal dune scrub community. The interaction between plants and mycorrhizal fungi is one of the most important and well-studied in ecology. However, the manner in which ecological communities of plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are structured by both deterministic and stochastic processes remains unclear. To quantify the role of deterministic and stochastic assembly processes in both plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities along with environmental filters in the assembly of communities in areas subject to flooding. We studied phylogenetic relationships and diversity measures in plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in three tropical coastal wetland communities with contrasting landscapes and soil properties. We found that non-random processes were dominant in plant communities, while mycorrhizal communities appeared to be determined by stochastic processes. Clustering trends were predominant in plant communities in areas subject to flooding. Environment filters and limiting similarity drive the plant community assembly, whereas ecological drift and/or dispersal limitations were determinants in the assembly of mycorrhizal communities. Environmental filters were found to be the main driver of plant community assembly in in areas subject to flooding.