Mycorrhizal Mediation of Plant Competition and Community Structure

各种类型的物种相互作用，包括竞争、食草和互惠，以及在不同时空尺度上运行的干扰和其他过程，都可能影响植物群落的结构和多样性。这些过程中的许多都是独立研究的，但这些不同的组织影响之间的相互作用还不清楚。评估互惠共生(泡囊丛枝菌根(VAM)和植物竞争如何在变化的大范围干扰的自然背景下塑造草原群落结构。共生植物物种对VAM真菌的反应可能不同，而对VAM真菌的这些不同反应可能强烈影响植物竞争和群落结构。本研究的目的是1)评估VAM的重要性，确定VAM真菌如何影响苗期和成株期菌根依赖程度不同的共生植物之间的竞争，以及3)了解这些过程中的菌根调节如何影响植物群落结构。Tallgras草原是一个理想的研究系统，因为依赖菌根的草和杂草(专性营养真菌)和相对独立的物种(兼性营养真菌)作为重要的物种和资源竞争对手共存。//

Various types of species interactions including competition, herbivory, and mutualisms, as well as disturbance and other processes operating at different spatio-temporal scales may influence the structure and diversity of plant communities. Many of these processes have been studied independently, but the interactions between these various organizing influences are not understood. Asses how a mutualism (Vesicular-arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) and plant competition interact to shape grassland community structure within the natural context of a variable regime of large scale disturbance. Co-occurring plant species may respond differentially to the effects of VAM fungi, and these differential responses to VAM fungi may strongly influence plant competition and community sturcture. The objectives of this research are to 1) assess the importance of VAM determine how VAM fungi influence competition among co-occurring plants which vary in mycorrhizal dependence at both the seedling and established plant stage, and 3) to understand how mycorrhizal-mediation of these processess influences plant community structure. Tallgrass prairie represents an ideal system for the proposed studies because both mycorrhiza dependent grasses and forbs (obligate mycotrophs and relatively independent species (facultative mycotrophs) coexist as important species and compets for resources. //