A1 Journal article (refereed)
Experimental evidence that root‐associated fungi improve plant growth at high altitude (2024)

Burg, S., Ovaskainen, O., Furneaux, B., Ivanova, N., Abrahamyan, A., Niittynen, P., Somervuo, P., & Abrego, N. (2024). Experimental evidence that root‐associated fungi improve plant growth at high altitude. Molecular Ecology, Early online. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17376

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Burg, Skylar; Ovaskainen, Otso; Furneaux, Brendan; Ivanova, Natalia; Abrahamyan, Arusyak; Niittynen, Pekka; Somervuo, Panu; Abrego, Nerea

Journal or series: Molecular Ecology

ISSN: 0962-1083

eISSN: 1365-294X

Publication year: 2024

Publication date: 04/05/2024

Volume: Early online

Publisher: Wiley

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17376

Research data link: https://zenodo.org/records/10995681

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Additional information: Raw reads are deposited to the European Nucleotide Archive under project PRJEB65743 at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB65743

Abstract

Unravelling how species communities change along environmental gradients requires a dual understanding: the direct responses of the species to their abiotic surroundings and the indirect variation of these responses through biotic interactions. Here, we focus on the interactive relationships between plants and their symbiotic root-associated fungi (RAF) along stressful abiotic gradients. We investigate whether variations in RAF community composition along altitudinal gradients influence plant growth at high altitudes, where both plants and fungi face harsher abiotic conditions. We established a translocation experiment between pairs of Bistorta vivipara populations across altitudinal gradients. To separate the impact of shifting fungal communities from the overall influence of changing abiotic conditions, we used a root barrier to prevent new colonization by RAF following translocation. To characterize the RAF communities, we applied DNA barcoding to the root samples. Through the utilization of joint species distribution modelling, we assessed the relationship between changes in plant functional traits resulting from experimental treatments and the corresponding changes in the RAF communities. Our findings indicate that RAF communities influence plant responses to stressful abiotic conditions. Plants translocated from low to high altitudes grew more when they were able to associate with the resident high-altitude RAF compared to those plants that were not allowed to associate with the resident RAF. We conclude that interactions with RAF impact how plants respond to stressful abiotic conditions. Our results provide experimental support that interactions with RAF improve plant stress tolerance to altitudinal stressors such as colder temperatures and less nutrient availability.

Keywords: arctic region; mycorrhiza; mycorrhizal fungi; symbiosis; ecological niche; habitat; plant ecology; molecular biology; DNA barcodes; metagenomics

Free keywords: arctic; joint species distribution model; metabarcoding; plant fitness; root-associated fungi; translocation

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2024

Preliminary JUFO rating: 3