Succession and Changing Roles of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities in a Floodplain Chronosequence Model System

演替，即生物群落随时间的发展，是生态学的中心主题。土壤微生物在植物群落演替中发挥着重要作用，这一点越来越清楚，但土壤微生物在这一背景下的作用仍然知之甚少，特别是在丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）方面。AMF是大多数植物的常见根系，是土壤中普遍存在的成分。它们显著影响植物生长和土壤过程。AMF丰度和群落如何随时间变化，这些变化如何影响植物和土壤？这些问题将通过蒙大拿州一条自由流动的河流所创造的景观来解决，该河流提供了一个遗址年龄序列（0到70年），一个自然实验室。通过测量这些不同年代土壤中AMF的丰度、种类组成和功能，可以更好地了解它们在演替中的作用。研究的重点是土壤团聚功能；AMF的这种作用有助于土壤的稳定，这是与抗侵蚀性相关的关键特性。河流是景观多样性的组织中心，河流土壤是地球上最肥沃但也最脆弱的土壤之一。这些土壤越来越多地受到人类的压力，是陆地、地下水和河流系统之间重要的营养物和废物缓冲层。因此，除了对了解生态演替的基础贡献外，该项目的数据还将为河流的恢复和保护工作提供信息。

Succession, the development of biological communities through time, is a central theme of ecology. It is becoming increasingly clear that soil organisms play a large role in succession of plant communities, yet the role of soil microbes in this context is still very poorly understood, particularly with respect to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). AMF, common root associates with the majority of plants, are pervasive components of soils. They significantly influence plant growth and soil processes. How will AMF abundance and communities change through time, and how can these changes influence plants and soils? These questions will be addressed using the landscape created by a free-flowing river in Montana, providing a sequence of site ages (0 to 70 years), a natural laboratory. By measuring AMF abundance, species composition, and function in soils of these different ages, a better understanding of their role in succession can be derived. The main focus is the function of soil aggregation; this action of AMF contributes to the stabilization of soils, a crucial property related to erosion resistance. Rivers are organizing centers of diversity in a landscape, and riverine soils are among the most fertile, yet fragile on Earth. These soils, which are subject to increased exposure to pressures from humans, represent important nutrient and waste buffers between terrestrial, groundwater and river systems. Therefore, in addition to fundamental contributions to understanding ecological succession, data from this project will also serve to inform restoration and conservation efforts related to rivers.