Community assembly, species richness and nestedness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural soils

• Published in: Molecular ecology Vol. 21; no. 10; pp. 2341 - 2353
• Main Authors: VERBRUGGEN, ERIK, Van Der HEIJDEN, MARCEL G. A., WEEDON, JAMES T., KOWALCHUK, GEORGE A., RÖLING, WILFRED F. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Agricultural land; agricultural soils; Agriculture; Agriculture - methods; analysis; Biodiversity; botanical composition; Cereal crops; chemical soil types; classification; community assembly; Community composition; Community ecology; Community structure; corn; Cropping sequence; dominance; ecosystems; environmental impact; Environmental stress; Flowers & plants; fungal communities; Fungi; genes; genetics; habitats; methods; Models, Biological; Mycorrhizae; Mycorrhizae - classification; Mycorrhizae - genetics; Mycorrhizae - physiology; mycorrhizal fungi; nestedness; Netherlands; neutral model; phosphates; physiology; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; potatoes; ribosomal RNA; richness; Roots; sand; Soil; Soil - analysis; soil ecology; Soil fertility; Soil Microbiology; Soil quality; Soil texture; Soil types; Soils; Solanum tuberosum; Species richness; Symbiosis; Taxa; variance; Zea mays; Netherlands

Understanding how communities assemble is a central goal of ecology. This is particularly relevant for communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), because the community composition of these beneficial plant symbionts influences important ecosystem processes. Moreover, AMF may be used as sensi...