The Role of Mycorrhizae in Mediating Interactions in Native and Invaded Plant Communities in Intermountain Praire

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9726829 Callaway and Zabinski The highly aggressive invasive weed, Centaurea maculosa, appears to utilize an unusual mechanism to exclude a native bunchgrass in grasslands of the Intermountain prairie. The basis of this interaction is tied to underground interactions via mycorrhizal fungi. This project will evaluate the role of these fungi in acting as mediators of the establishment of Centaurea by preferentially transferring carbon from native grasses to this weed. The proposed research includes an integrated sequence of greenhouse, common garden, and field experiments to (1) test the generality of indirect interactions between mycorrhizal fungi and plant species native to the Intermountain grasslands in the presence and absence of the invasive species, (2) to determine the mechanism of the fungi-mediated interaction and (3) to determine the ecological relevance of such interactions in the field.