The impact of elevational gradients on dark septate endophytes (DSE) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in mountains

Abstract

The biogeography of soil microbial communities is changing in response to increased anthropogenic disturbance, such as climate change. However, the response patterns of microbes to these rapid and accelerating changes is poorly quantified, especially when compared with our understanding of macroscopic aboveground response. The aim of this experiment was to elucidate the colonization patterns of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and dark septate endophytes (DSE) along two mountain gradients in Colorado and New Zealand. I hypothesize that, consistent with the observation that DSE are more tolerant of extreme conditions than AMF, DSE colonization is higher at high elevation, and conversely, AMF colonization is higher at low elevation. I scored stained root samples for fungal structures—the sample roots were collected from high and low elevation sites in both the Gunnison Basin, Colorado and the Tongariro National Park, New Zealand between 2014 and 2019. We found a significantly higher proportion of DSE at the high elevation site in Colorado compared to the low elevation site in Colorado. While there was a similar trend of an increasing proportion of DSE at the high elevation site in New Zealand, the difference in colonization of AMF versus DSE at high and low sites was not statistically significant. These data suggest AMF are more sensitive to environmental filters while DSE are more adaptive to abiotic stress associated with increased altitude, and they add to the growing body of work exploring the patterns and drivers of microbial biogeography. Lintner 3

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