Fungus-subsidized growth through the seedling stage is the most critical feature of the life history for the thousands of mycorrhizal plant species that propagate by means of 'dust seeds.' We investigated the extent of specificity towards fungi shown by orchids in the genera Cephalanthera and Epipactis at three stages of their life cycle: (i) initiation of germination, (ii) during seedling deve...

Globally, forests are impacted by atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, affecting their structure and functioning above below ground. All trees form mutualistic root symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi. Of the two kinds of trees, ectomycorrhizal (EcM) symbiosis is much more sensitive to N enrichment than arbuscular (AM) symbiosis. Due increasing significant declines in richness abundance EcM fungal...

Woody plant encroachment affects dry grasslands globally. To predict changes in biodiversity and ecosystem processes, it is important to understand how this process the functional composition of grassland organism groups. In context, seminatural wooded meadows represent a form experimental manipulation—where open woody patches co-occur homogeneous environmental conditions due human management d...

altitudinal partitioning in the distributions of ectomycorrhizal fungi along a short (300 m) elevation gradient. The NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner.

More than 1.5 M ha of eucalypt plantations have been established in south China, increasing by about 100,000 ha y. Productivity is uneven and low, only about 25-50% of the world average for eucalypt plantations. Most land available for eucalypts are degraded oxisols and utilsols which also are acidic, highly leached and deeply weathered. Phosphorus deficiency is very severe and its availability...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an ectomycorrhizal fungus (Tuber indicum) on the diversity of microbial communities associated with an indigenous tree, Pinus armandii, and the microbial communities in the surrounding ectomycorhizosphere soil. High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the richness of microbial communities in the roots or rhizosphere of treatments with...

In temperate and boreal forest ecosystems, nitrogen (N) limitation of tree metabolism is alleviated by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. As forest soils age, the primary source of N in soil switches from inorganic (NH4 (+) and NO3 (-)) to organic (mostly proteins). It has been hypothesized that ECM fungi adapt to the most common N source in their environment, which implies that fungi growing in olde...

Most land plants are able to form symbiotic associations with fungi, and in many cases these associations are necessary for plant and fungal survival. These plant/fungal associations are formed with mycorrhizal (arbuscular mycorrhizal or ectomycorrhizal) or endophytic fungi, fungi from distinct phylogenetic lineages. While it has been shown that mycorrhizal fungi are able to transfer nutrients ...

†Background Myco-heterotrophic plants are partly or entirely non-photosynthetic plants that obtain energy and nutrients from fungi. These plants form a symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal, ectomycorrhizal or saprotrophic fungi to meet their nutrient demands. † Scope This Botanical Briefing summarizes current knowledge about myco-heterotrophy, discusses its controversial aspects and highlights...

Aim It has been proposed that co-invasion with ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi is a common mechanism by which non-indigenous trees overcome symbiont limitation, yet virtually all prior evidence has come from a single plant family, the Pinaceae. We tested the co-invasion hypothesis by examining the EM fungal communities associated with a specialized host, Alnus glutinosa (black alder), and a generali...