Plant-soil feedback of two legume species in semi-arid Brazil

Abstract

Positive feedback between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) and vascular plants can contribute to plant species establishment, but how this feedback affects plant invasion by Prosopis juliflora SW. (DC.), or resistance to invasion by Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir in Brazilian semi-arid region is not well known. In this work, we tested how modified and native AMF communities affect the establishment of P. juliflora and M. tenuiflora plants. We examined the effects of inoculation with modified and native AMF communities on number of AMF spores, root colonization, number of N-fixing nodules, plant dry biomass, plant phosphorous concentration, and plant responsiveness to mycorrhizas of P. juliflora and M. tenuiflora. We found that the modified AMF community enhanced the root colonization, plant dry biomass, and plant phosphorous concentration of invasive P. juliflora, whereas native AMF enhanced M. tenuiflora. Our results demonstrate that the invasive P. juliflora alters soil AMF community composition, and this change generates positive feedback to the invasive P. juliflora itself and decreases AMF associations with native M. tenuiflora.