Ectomycorrhizal diversity, taxon-specific traits and root N uptake in temperate beech forests

Anis Mahmud Khokon; Dennis Janz; Andrea Polle

doi:10.1111/nph.18978

Ectomycorrhizal diversity, taxon-specific traits and root N uptake in temperate beech forests

Anis Mahmud Khokon
, Dennis Janz
, Andrea Polle

Microbial Systems Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Roots of forest trees are colonized by a diverse spectrum of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species differing in their nitrogen (N) acquisition abilities. Here, we hypothesized that root N gain is the result of EM fungal diversity or related to taxon-specific traits for N uptake. To test our hypotheses, we traced ¹⁵N enrichment in fine roots, coarse roots and taxon-specific ectomycorrhizas in temperate beech forests in two regions and three seasons, feeding 1 mM NH₄NO₃ labelled with either ¹⁵NH₄⁺ or ¹⁵NO₃⁻. We morphotyped > 45 000 vital root tips and identified 51 of 53 detected EM species by sequencing. EM root tips exhibited strong, fungal taxon-specific variation in ¹⁵N enrichment with higher NH₄⁺ than NO₃⁻ enrichment. The translocation of N into the upper parts of the root system increased with increasing EM fungal diversity. Across the growth season, influential EM species predicting root N gain were not identified, probably due to high temporal dynamics of the species composition of EM assemblages. Our results support that root N acquisition is related to EM fungal community-level traits and highlight the importance of EM diversity for tree N nutrition.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	739-751
Number of pages	13
Journal	New Phytologist
Volume	239
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18978
State	Published - Jul 2023

Funding

We are grateful to many helpers in the field (Ashkan Amirkhosravi, Huanying Feng, Sven Hansen, Magnus Niemeyer, Jens Peter, Huili Shi and Ronny Thoms), to T. Klein for excellent technical assistance with the molecular work and to Lars Szwec (Centre for Stable Isotope Research and Analysis, University of Göttingen) for measuring the stable isotopes. We thank Markus Fischer, the late Elisabeth Kalko, Eduard Linsenmair, Dominik Hessenmöller, Jens Nieschulze, Daniel Prati, Ingo Schöning, François Buscot, Ernst-Detlef Schulze and Wolfgang W. Weisser for their role in setting up the Biodiversity Exploratories project. We thank the local management team from Hainich (Dr Juliane Vogt, Frederic Van Broeck, Victoria Eisenbach) and Schorfheide-Chorin (Dr Miriam Teuscher, Ulf Pommer, Markus Rubenbauer) for their help in setting up and maintaining the plots. Permissions for field work (according to §72 BbgNatSchG) have been issued by the authorities of the states Thüringen and Brandenburg. The work has been funded by the DFG Priority Program 1374 ‘Infrastructure-Biodiversity-Exploratories’ (PO362/18-4 and PO362/18-5). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. We are grateful to many helpers in the field (Ashkan Amirkhosravi, Huanying Feng, Sven Hansen, Magnus Niemeyer, Jens Peter, Huili Shi and Ronny Thoms), to T. Klein for excellent technical assistance with the molecular work and to Lars Szwec (Centre for Stable Isotope Research and Analysis, University of Göttingen) for measuring the stable isotopes. We thank Markus Fischer, the late Elisabeth Kalko, Eduard Linsenmair, Dominik Hessenmöller, Jens Nieschulze, Daniel Prati, Ingo Schöning, François Buscot, Ernst‐Detlef Schulze and Wolfgang W. Weisser for their role in setting up the Biodiversity Exploratories project. We thank the local management team from Hainich (Dr Juliane Vogt, Frederic Van Broeck, Victoria Eisenbach) and Schorfheide‐Chorin (Dr Miriam Teuscher, Ulf Pommer, Markus Rubenbauer) for their help in setting up and maintaining the plots. Permissions for field work (according to §72 BbgNatSchG) have been issued by the authorities of the states Thüringen and Brandenburg. The work has been funded by the DFG Priority Program 1374 ‘Infrastructure‐Biodiversity‐Exploratories’ (PO362/18‐4 and PO362/18‐5). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Keywords

biodiversity
ectomycorrhiza
Fagus sylvatica
mineral nitrogen
nutrition
stable isotopes

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10.1111/nph.18978

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title = "Ectomycorrhizal diversity, taxon-specific traits and root N uptake in temperate beech forests",

abstract = "Roots of forest trees are colonized by a diverse spectrum of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species differing in their nitrogen (N) acquisition abilities. Here, we hypothesized that root N gain is the result of EM fungal diversity or related to taxon-specific traits for N uptake. To test our hypotheses, we traced 15N enrichment in fine roots, coarse roots and taxon-specific ectomycorrhizas in temperate beech forests in two regions and three seasons, feeding 1 mM NH4NO3 labelled with either 15NH4+ or 15NO3−. We morphotyped > 45 000 vital root tips and identified 51 of 53 detected EM species by sequencing. EM root tips exhibited strong, fungal taxon-specific variation in 15N enrichment with higher NH4+ than NO3− enrichment. The translocation of N into the upper parts of the root system increased with increasing EM fungal diversity. Across the growth season, influential EM species predicting root N gain were not identified, probably due to high temporal dynamics of the species composition of EM assemblages. Our results support that root N acquisition is related to EM fungal community-level traits and highlight the importance of EM diversity for tree N nutrition.",

keywords = "biodiversity, ectomycorrhiza, Fagus sylvatica, mineral nitrogen, nutrition, stable isotopes",

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AU - Janz, Dennis

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N2 - Roots of forest trees are colonized by a diverse spectrum of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species differing in their nitrogen (N) acquisition abilities. Here, we hypothesized that root N gain is the result of EM fungal diversity or related to taxon-specific traits for N uptake. To test our hypotheses, we traced 15N enrichment in fine roots, coarse roots and taxon-specific ectomycorrhizas in temperate beech forests in two regions and three seasons, feeding 1 mM NH4NO3 labelled with either 15NH4+ or 15NO3−. We morphotyped > 45 000 vital root tips and identified 51 of 53 detected EM species by sequencing. EM root tips exhibited strong, fungal taxon-specific variation in 15N enrichment with higher NH4+ than NO3− enrichment. The translocation of N into the upper parts of the root system increased with increasing EM fungal diversity. Across the growth season, influential EM species predicting root N gain were not identified, probably due to high temporal dynamics of the species composition of EM assemblages. Our results support that root N acquisition is related to EM fungal community-level traits and highlight the importance of EM diversity for tree N nutrition.

AB - Roots of forest trees are colonized by a diverse spectrum of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species differing in their nitrogen (N) acquisition abilities. Here, we hypothesized that root N gain is the result of EM fungal diversity or related to taxon-specific traits for N uptake. To test our hypotheses, we traced 15N enrichment in fine roots, coarse roots and taxon-specific ectomycorrhizas in temperate beech forests in two regions and three seasons, feeding 1 mM NH4NO3 labelled with either 15NH4+ or 15NO3−. We morphotyped > 45 000 vital root tips and identified 51 of 53 detected EM species by sequencing. EM root tips exhibited strong, fungal taxon-specific variation in 15N enrichment with higher NH4+ than NO3− enrichment. The translocation of N into the upper parts of the root system increased with increasing EM fungal diversity. Across the growth season, influential EM species predicting root N gain were not identified, probably due to high temporal dynamics of the species composition of EM assemblages. Our results support that root N acquisition is related to EM fungal community-level traits and highlight the importance of EM diversity for tree N nutrition.

KW - biodiversity

KW - ectomycorrhiza

KW - Fagus sylvatica

KW - mineral nitrogen

KW - nutrition

KW - stable isotopes

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85160310967

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DO - 10.1111/nph.18978

M3 - Article

C2 - 37229659

AN - SCOPUS:85160310967

SN - 0028-646X

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JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

IS - 2

ER -

Ectomycorrhizal diversity, taxon-specific traits and root N uptake in temperate beech forests

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