Partitioning of soil phosphorus among arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal trees in tropical and subtropical forests |
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| Authors: | Xubing Liu David F. R. P. Burslem Joe D. Taylor Andy F. S. Taylor Eyen Khoo Noreen Majalap‐Lee Thorunn Helgason David Johnson |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK;2. Department of Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat‐sen University, Guangzhou, China;3. Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK;4. School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK;5. The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, UK;6. Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sandakan, Malaysia;7. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK |
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| Abstract: | Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both tropical and subtropical forests. Both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees responded positively to addition of inorganic P, but strikingly, ECM trees acquired more P from a complex organic form (phytic acid). Most ECM tree species and all AM tree species also showed some capacity to take up simple organic P (monophosphate). Mycorrhizal colonisation was negatively correlated with soil extractable P concentration, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may regulate organic P acquisition among tree species. Our results support the hypothesis that ECM and AM plants partition soil P sources, which may play an ecologically important role in promoting species coexistence in tropical and subtropical forests. |
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| Keywords: | Mycorrhizal fungi phosphate resource partitioning seedling growth soil organic phosphorus tropical and subtropical forests |
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