J Plant Ecol ›› 2021, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (4): 648-661 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtab017

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on Solidago canadensis growth are independent of nitrogen form

Dan-Lei Song, Yu-Fei Zhao, Fang-Ping Tang, Yan-Hua Zhang, Shu-Qi Zhou and Li-Jia Dong*   

  1. School of Life Science, Shaoxing University, Huancheng West Road 508, Shaoxing 312000, China

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: donglijia@126.com
  • Received:2020-06-17 Revised:2020-10-02 Accepted:2021-01-31 Online:2021-03-07 Published:2021-08-01

Abstract:

Aims

Invasive plants may alter soil fungal communities in a way that improves their growth. Nitrogen (N) content of soil affects the symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), further determining plant growth. Yet, it is unclear whether altered AMF communities change the dependence of invasive and native species on N-form, and whether N forms alter the invasive plant–AMF interaction (PSIM).

Methods

Two synthetic plant communities, including four Solidago canadensis individuals and four native plant species, were inoculated with AMF spores from S. canadensis-invaded soils and adjacent non-invaded soils, and were provided with nitrate, ammonia or glutamate. After their growth, the performance of the two plant communities in treatments of AMF origin and N forms, and the pathways of the N forms affecting S. canadensis growth and PSIM were evaluated.

Important Findings

Solidago canadensis had no obvious N-form dependence in any of the AMF inoculations. Native plant species showed weak N-form dependence, but invasive AMF could remove their N-form dependence. In the absence of N, AMF did not affect growth of S. canadensis and the native plants. In contrast, with N addition, invasive AMF significantly increased belowground and total biomass of the invasive plants but not those of the native plants. Positive PSIM of S. canadensis was also evidently greater than that of native plant species and was realized through directly or indirectly regulating phenotypic traits including plant height, leaf number and number of rhizomes. Our findings emphasize the importance of plant–AMF interactions and a unique N-acquisition strategy during plant invasions.

Key words: plant, soil interaction, inorganic nitrogen, organic nitrogen, plant invasion, PLS-PM, Solidago canadensis

摘要:
丛枝菌根真菌对加拿大一枝黄花生长的影响不受氮形态的调节
越来越多的研究结果表明,入侵植物能通过改变土壤真菌群落直接或间接的促进自身生长。土壤氮含量高低影响植物与丛枝菌根真菌(AMF)的共生关系,进而影响植物生长。然而,氮形态是否会改变入侵植物- 相互作用,以及被改变的AMF群落是否影响入侵植物和本地植物对不同氮形态的依赖性尚未可知。鉴于此,本研究以加拿大一枝黄花(Solidago canadensis)为研究对象,结合野外驯化和室内接种实验,探讨了群落水平上该入侵植物的生长,以及入侵植物-AMF相互作用对不同形态氮添加的响应。首先,选择30对加拿大一枝黄花入侵群落和相近的非入侵群落,并用湿筛法从土壤中获取入侵AMF孢子和非入侵AMF孢子,同时构建两种人工群落:加拿大一枝黄花群落(N = 4)和本地植物群落(N = 4);然后 将入侵和非入侵AMF孢子接种至两种人工群落中,并在生长期间分别供应3种形态氮(NO3-N、NH4-N、Gly-N);生长结束后收获各植物群落地上、地下生物量,测定加拿大一枝黄花的形态特征。研究结果发现,加拿大一枝黄花未表现出显著的氮形态依赖性,本地植物则表现出较弱的氮形态依赖性;但入侵AMF可消除氮形态对本地植物的影响。在无氮源供应时,AMF不影响两种植物群落的生长,而提供任一形态氮源时,入侵AMF均显著促进该入侵植物的地下生物量和总生物量而不改变本地植物的生长。加拿大一枝黄花-AMF正相互作用强度显著大于本地植物-AMF相互作用的强度,且这种正的相互作用是通过直接或间接调节加拿大一枝黄花的表型特征(如株高、叶数、根状茎数量等)来实现的。该研究强调了植物-AMF相互作用在入侵中的重要性,并揭示了加拿大一枝黄花特殊的氮获取策略,为进一步研究入侵机制提供了重要的依据。

关键词: 植物-土壤相互作用, 无机氮, 有机氮, 植物入侵, 路径模型(PLS-PM), 加拿大一枝黄花 (Solidago canadensis)