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  • Title: Seasonal variation in the response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to grazing intensity.
    Author: Faghihinia M, Zou Y, Bai Y, Marrs R, Staddon PL.
    Journal: Mycorrhiza; 2020 Sep; 30(5):635-646. PubMed ID: 32647970.
    Abstract:
    Despite existing evidence of pronounced seasonality in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities, little is known about the ecology of AM fungi in response to grazing intensity in different seasons. Here, we assessed AM fungal abundance, represented by soil hyphal length density (HLD), mycorrhizal root colonization intensity (MI), and arbuscule intensity (AI) throughout three seasons (spring, summer, autumn) in a farm-scale field experiment in typical, grazed steppe vegetation in northern China. Seven levels of field-manipulated, grazing intensities had been maintained for over 13 years within two topographies, flat and slope. We also measured soil nutrients and carbon content throughout the growing season to investigate whether seasonal variation in AM fungal abundance was related to seasonal shifts in soil resource availability along the grazing gradient. We further examined the association between AM fungal metrics in the different grazing treatments through the growing season. Our results showed a pronounced seasonal shift in HLD but there was no clear seasonality in MI and AI. HLD was significantly negatively related to grazing intensity over the course of the growing season from spring to autumn. However, MI and AI were related negatively to grazing intensity only in spring. In addition, differential responses of AM fungal abundance to grazing intensity at the two topographical sites were detected. No strong evidence was found for associations between AM fungal abundance and soil resource availability. Moreover, AM fungal internal and external abundance were correlated positively under the different grazing intensities throughout the growing season. Overall, our study suggests that external AM fungal structures in soil were more responsive to seasonal variation and grazing than internal structures in roots. The findings also suggest that early grazing may be detrimental to AM fungal root colonization of newly emerged plants.
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