Ecological Dynamics of the Plant-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Mutualism: Contribution to Plant Species Turnover and Coexistence

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The iconic tallgrass prairie of the American heartland undergoes a constant process of renewal following fire and grazing. The renewal consists of a turnover of species that provides for long-term coexistence and the maintenance of diversity. Recently, it has been revealed that a type of fungus that penetrates that roots of prairie plants plays an important role in how they compete for resources, and these interactions differ among species. The fungi thus affect how the sequence of turnover takes place. The details of this interaction, and whether it helps some species and hinders others, is yet unknown. This project will determine how this interaction affects the renewal process in unprecedented detail. This research will aid in efforts to restore natural prairie communities in the Midwest. Additionally, the project will provide training opportunities for students and contribute to a high school teacher development program.A growing body of work has identified important roles of soil organisms in plant species coexistence and turnover during succession. Insight into the potential dynamics of these systems is limited by a poor understanding of soil organism dynamics. This gap will be addressed in observational, experimental, and modeling stages. Observations will span time and space in monitoring changes in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal composition and plant growth across multiple plant species of varying life history. The dynamics of plant populations resulting from these fungal changes will be examined. Manipulative experiments will be designed and conducted to differentiate and quantify the impact of allocation of resources by the hosts to preferred mycorrhizae from fungal competitive ability. A conceptual model, including simulation, will be developed to produce a new theoretical framework that integrates plant physiological plasticity and life history trade-offs with plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal community feedbacks.