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A meta-analysis of context-dependency in plant response to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi

  1. Jason D. Hoeksema1,*,
  2. V. Bala Chaudhary2,
  3. Catherine A. Gehring2,
  4. Nancy Collins Johnson3,
  5. Justine Karst1,
  6. Roger T. Koide4,
  7. Anne Pringle5,
  8. Catherine Zabinski6,
  9. James D. Bever7,
  10. John C. Moore8,
  11. Gail W. T. Wilson9,
  12. John N. Klironomos10,
  13. James Umbanhowar11

Article first published online: 19 JAN 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01430.x

Issue

Ecology Letters

Ecology Letters

Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 394–407, March 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hoeksema, J. D., Chaudhary, V. B., Gehring, C. A., Johnson, N. C., Karst, J., Koide, R. T., Pringle, A., Zabinski, C., Bever, J. D., Moore, J. C., Wilson, G. W. T., Klironomos, J. N. and Umbanhowar, J. (2010), A meta-analysis of context-dependency in plant response to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi. Ecology Letters, 13: 394–407. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01430.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677 USA

  2. 2

    Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5640, USA

  3. 3

    Environmental & Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5694, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Horticulture, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

  5. 5

    Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

  6. 6

    Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA

  7. 7

    Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-3700, USA

  8. 8

    Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Ft. Collins, CO 80523, USA

  9. 9

    Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA

  10. 10

    Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 Canada

  11. 11

    Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

* * Correspondence: E-mail:hoeksema@olemiss.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 19 FEB 2010
  2. Article first published online: 19 JAN 2010
  3. Editor, Richard Bardgett Manuscript received 29 September 2009 First decision made 25 October 2009Manuscript accepted 2 December 2009

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Keywords:

  • Arbuscular mycorrhizas;
  • ectomycorrhizas;
  • inoculation;
  • meta-analysis;
  • nitrogen;
  • phosphorous;
  • plant functional group;
  • soil microorganisms;
  • symbiosis

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 394–407

Abstract

Mycorrhizal fungi influence plant growth, local biodiversity and ecosystem function. Effects of the symbiosis on plants span the continuum from mutualism to parasitism. We sought to understand this variation in symbiotic function using meta-analysis with information theory-based model selection to assess the relative importance of factors in five categories: (1) identity of the host plant and its functional characteristics, (2) identity and type of mycorrhizal fungi (arbuscular mycorrhizal vs. ectomycorrhizal), (3) soil fertility, (4) biotic complexity of the soil and (5) experimental location (laboratory vs. field). Across most subsets of the data, host plant functional group and N-fertilization were surprisingly much more important in predicting plant responses to mycorrhizal inoculation (‘plant response’) than other factors. Non-N-fixing forbs and woody plants and C4 grasses responded more positively to mycorrhizal inoculation than plants with N-fixing bacterial symbionts and C3 grasses. In laboratory studies of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, plant response was more positive when the soil community was more complex. Univariate analyses supported the hypothesis that plant response is most positive when plants are P-limited rather than N-limited. These results emphasize that mycorrhizal function depends on both abiotic and biotic context, and have implications for plant community theory and restoration ecology.

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