Root associated fungal lineages of a tropical montane forest show contrasting sensitivities to the long-term addition of nitrogen and phosphorus

Abstract

Root associated fungal (RAF) communities can exert strong effects on plant communities and are potentially sensitive to shifts in soil fertility. As increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition can alter the nutrient balance in natural ecosystems, we assessed the response of RAF communities to a fertilization experiment deployed on a highly diverse Andean forest. The stand level fine root fraction was sampled after 7 years of systematic N and P additions and RAF communities were characterized by a deep sequencing approach. We expected that fertilization will enhance competition of fungal taxa for limiting nutrients, thus eliciting diversity reductions and alterations in the structure of RAF communities. Fertilization treatments did not reduce RAF richness but affected community composition. At the phylum level fertilization reduced richness exclusively among Glomeromycota. In contrast, N and P additions (alone or in combination) altered the composition of several fungal phyla. The lack of a generalized response to long-term fertilization among RAF lineages suggests that most of these lineages will not be directly and immediately affected by the increasing rates of atmospheric N and P deposition expected for this region by 2050.