Partitioning of soil phosphorus among arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal trees in tropical and subtropical forests

Liu, X; Burslem, DFRP; Taylor, JD; Taylor, AFS; Khoo, E; Majalap-Lee, N; Helgason, T; Johnson, D

Abstract

Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both tropical and subtropical forests. Both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees responded positively to addition of inorganic P, but strikingly, ECM trees acquired more P from a complex organic form (phytic acid). Most ECM tree species and all AM tree species also showed some capacity to take up simple organic P (monophosphate). Mycorrhizal colonisation was negatively correlated with soil extractable P concentration, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may regulate organic P acquisition among tree species. Our results support the hypothesis that ECM and AM plants partition soil P sources, which may play an ecologically important role in promoting species coexistence in tropical and subtropical forests.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 13, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Mar 13, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 16, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 6, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 13, 2019
• Journal: Ecology letters
• Print ISSN: 1461-023X
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-0248
• Publisher: Wiley
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 713-723
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12939
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12939
• Related Public URLs: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14610248
• Additional Information: Access Information : This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at the Official URL above. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.; Projects : Explaining niche separation in tropical forests: feedbacks between root-fungal symbioses and soil phosphorus partitioning