Tropical forest type influences community assembly processes in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tropical forest type influences community assembly processes in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

AU - Maciel Rabelo Pereira, Camilla

AU - López-García, Álvaro

AU - Alves da Silva, Danielle Karla

AU - Maia, Leonor Costa

AU - Frøslev, Tobias Guldberg

AU - Kjøller, Rasmus

AU - Rosendahl, Søren

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - Aim: Plant community assembly in tropical rain forest has been shown to be largely governed by stochastic processes, but as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi display limited host preference, they may not follow the same stochastic assembly pattern. Here, we determined the relative importance of environmental and spatial drivers responsible for the community assembly process of AM fungi in two types of tropical rain forest: semideciduous rain forest and dense ombrophilous forests. Location: Atlantic rain forest in north-eastern Brazil, South America. Taxon: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycotina). Methods: We collected root samples from eight protected areas of Atlantic forest along a 700 km transect in north-eastern Brazil. We measured the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes by redundancy analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning in comparison with null expectations using ad hoc generated neutral communities. Furthermore, we accessed species associations from co-occurrence data, at different scales using a Bayesian approach of Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities. Results: Overall, the extent to which stochastic and deterministic processes affected community assembly depended on the forest type and the spatial scale. Specifically, we found that abiotic and biotic predictors of AM fungal community assemblages are related to environmental homogeneity in tropical rain forests. Main conclusions: The results of the study show that dynamics in community assembly was clearly different between the two forest types, and that the difference most likely is due to differences in responses to environmental variables.

AB - Aim: Plant community assembly in tropical rain forest has been shown to be largely governed by stochastic processes, but as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi display limited host preference, they may not follow the same stochastic assembly pattern. Here, we determined the relative importance of environmental and spatial drivers responsible for the community assembly process of AM fungi in two types of tropical rain forest: semideciduous rain forest and dense ombrophilous forests. Location: Atlantic rain forest in north-eastern Brazil, South America. Taxon: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycotina). Methods: We collected root samples from eight protected areas of Atlantic forest along a 700 km transect in north-eastern Brazil. We measured the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes by redundancy analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning in comparison with null expectations using ad hoc generated neutral communities. Furthermore, we accessed species associations from co-occurrence data, at different scales using a Bayesian approach of Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities. Results: Overall, the extent to which stochastic and deterministic processes affected community assembly depended on the forest type and the spatial scale. Specifically, we found that abiotic and biotic predictors of AM fungal community assemblages are related to environmental homogeneity in tropical rain forests. Main conclusions: The results of the study show that dynamics in community assembly was clearly different between the two forest types, and that the difference most likely is due to differences in responses to environmental variables.

KW - Atlantic forest

KW - beta-diversity

KW - biotic associations

KW - fungal communities

KW - Glomeromycotina

KW - neutrality

KW - next generation sequencing

KW - SSU rRNA gene

U2 - 10.1111/jbi.13739

DO - 10.1111/jbi.13739

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0305-0270

JO - Journal of Biogeography

JF - Journal of Biogeography

ER -