The root microlandscape of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Abstract

Understanding the drivers of assemblages of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is essential to leverage the benefits of AMF for plant growth and health. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are heterogeneously distributed in space even at small scale. We review the role of plant distribution in driving AMF assemblages (the passenger hypothesis), using a transposition of the conceptual framework of landscape ecology. Because rooting systems correspond to habitat patches with limited carrying capacity that differ in quality due to host-preference effects, we suggest considering plant communities as mosaics of AMF microhabitats. We review how predictions from landscape ecology apply to plant community effects on AMF, and the existing evidence that tests these predictions. Although many studies have been conducted on the effect of plant compositional heterogeneity on AMF assemblages, they mostly focused on the effect of plant richness, while only a few investigated the effect of configurational heterogeneity, plant connectivity or plant community temporal dynamics. We propose key predictions and future prospects to fill these gaps. Considering plant communities as landscapes extends the passenger hypothesis by including a spatially explicit dimension and its associated ecological processes and may help understand and manipulate AMF assemblages at small spatial scales.