Root-colonizing fungi form species-rich assemblages with key functions in principal ecosystem processes, making them prospectively important players in conservation and applied ecology. Harnessing the processes and services they drive requires a better understanding of their patterns of diversity and community structure, and how these link to funct...
Data and code used in Semchenko M, Barry KE, de Vries FT, Mommer L, Maciá-Vicente JG (2022) Deciphering the role of specialist and generalist plant–microbial interactions as drivers of plant–soil feedback. New Phytologist, 10.1111/nph.18118 for the analysis of host ranges across plant-associated fungal and oomycete guilds.
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program / Funder: G. T. Seaborg Institute / Phosphorus (P) is essential for plant growth. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) aid its uptake by acquiring P from sources distant from roots in return for carbon. Little is known about how AMF colonise soil pore-space, and models of AMF-enhanced P-...
Published in Plant signaling & behavior
Mycoheterotrophic plants are non-photosynthetic plants that obtain nutrients from fungi. Even though most of these plants are associated with the mycorrhizal partners of surrounding photosynthetic plants, recent studies have suggested that some mycoheterotrophic orchids indirectly obtain carbon from decaying organic matter through associations with...
Published in The New phytologist
Trees are a foundation for biodiversity in urban ecosystems and therefore must be able to withstand global change and biological challenges over decades and even centuries to prevent urban ecosystems from deteriorating. Tree quality and diversity should be prioritized over simply numbers to optimize resilience to these challenges. Successful establ...
Positive interactions between people and nature inspire behaviours that are in harmony with biodiversity conservation and also afford physical and mental health benefits. Since most people live in towns and cities, urban greenspaces are key points of influence for conservation, but also provide diverse ecosystem services. City trees are a foundatio...
Published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
The restoration of vegetation post-mining is particularly challenging in extreme conditions such as Mediterranean systems where soil moisture is limiting, soil temperature fluctuates dramatically, and soil carbon is very low. In such systems, soil microbial communities may play an important role in attenuating extreme conditions. Thus, vegetation e...
Published in The New phytologist
Chronosequences at the forefront of retreating glaciers provide information about colonization rates of bare surfaces. In the northern hemisphere, forest development can take centuries, with rates often limited by low nutrient availability. By contrast, in front of the retreating Pia Glacier (Tierra del Fuego, Chile), a Nothofagus forest is in plac...
Published in Frontiers in Plant Science
Large-scale studies that examine the responses of ectomycorrhizal fungi across biogeographic gradients are necessary to assess their role in mediating current and predicted future alterations in forest ecosystem processes. We assessed the extent of environmental filtering on interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) ...
