Mycorrhiza increases plant diversity and soil carbon storage in grasslands
Abstract
Experimental studies have shown that symbiotic relationships between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and host plants can regulate soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Although the impacts of mycorrhiza are highly context-dependent, it remains unclear how these effects vary across broad spatial scales. Based on data from 2296 field sites across grassland ecosystems of China, here we show that mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis enhances SOC storage in the topsoil and subsoil through increasing plant diversity and elevating biomass allocation to belowground. SOC storage is significantly higher in both the topsoil and subsoil in systems dominated by obligate mycorrhizal (OM) and facultative mycorrhizal (FM) plants than those dominated by nonmycorrhizal (NM) plants. Also, the relative abundance of OM plants increases at the expense of FM plants as temperature and precipitation increase. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential mechanisms by which mycorrhizal fungi may influence grassland plant diversity and SOC storage in the context of global change.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (18)
Entao Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yang Wang
Thomas W. Crowther
Weicheng Sun
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shiping Chen
Key Laboratory for Natural Active Pharmaceutical Constituents Research in Universities of Shandong Province, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences)
Daowei Zhou
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhouping Shangguan
State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming in the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University
Jianhui Huang
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jin-Sheng He
Yanfen Wang
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiandong Sheng
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University
Lisong Tang
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xinrong Li
Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ming Dong
Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies on Intelligent Molecules, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry
Yan Wu
Shuijin Hu
College of Agro-Grassland Science, Nanjing Agricultural University
Yongfei Bai
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guirui Yu