BIBLIOS

Document type
Journal articles

Document subtype
Full paper

Title
Arbuscular mycorrhizal traits are good indicators of soil multifunctionality in drylands

Participants in the publication
Neji Mahmoudi (Author)
Maria F. Caeiro (Author)
Dep. Biologia Vegetal
CESAM
Mosbah Mahdhi (Author)
Rogério Tenreiro (Author)
Florian Ulm (Author)
Mohamed Mars (Author)
Cristina Cruz (Author)
Dep. Biologia Vegetal
Teresa Dias (Author)
Dep. Biologia Vegetal
cE3c

Summary
Drylands are highly susceptible to degradation and climate change, which has important ecological and socio-economic consequences worldwide. To halt drylands degradation, plant species selection for restoration is starting to include also a functional approach, but does not integrate belowground functional traits yet. Therefore we tested the use of mycorrhizal traits to identify native plant species which host guilds of beneficial microbes and therefore enhance multiple soil functions simultaneously – soil multifunctionality. We used a soil organic matter (SOM) gradient (0.9-1.9%) and evaluated the effect of 14 common and abundant native herbaceous plant species (+ bare soil) on soil functionality. We measured several soil functions (soil microbial biomass, metabolic quotient, and enzymatic activities – dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase and phosphatase) and built a soil multifunctionality index. Soil multifunctionality was strongly associated with mycorrhizal traits across the analysed SOM gradient. Bare soils and soils under non- or low-mycorrhizal plant species displayed the lower soil functionality (both individual functions and multifunctionality), while soils under Fabaceae species (Medicago truncatula, Astralagus corrugatus and Lotus halophilus) displayed the highest. For each plant species, the highest soil multifunctionality was observed at the SOM-richer site. Soil multifunctionality was strongly associated with all the mycorrhizal traits but mycorrhizal intensity and AMF spores abundance were more correlated with soil multifunctionality than mycorrhizal frequency. Our data show that: i) AM traits can be good indicators of simultaneous multiple soil functions in drylands; and ii) soil multifunctionality in drylands can be improved by management practices promoting SOM accumulation and favouring specific native plant species.


Institution
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA

Where published
Geoderma

Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 0016-7061

Publisher
Elsevier BV



Document Identifiers
DOI - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115099
URL - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115099

Download