Abundances of ectomycorrhizal exploration types show the type-dependent temporal dynamics over the seasons-a controlled growth container experiment.

Abstract

Ectomycorrhizas are ubiquitous symbiotic associations between host trees and soil fungi. While the seasonal changes of the taxonomic community structure of ectomycorrhizal fungi have been studied extensively, the temporal dynamics of ectomycorrhizal exploration types which have been proposed for elucidating the functional roles of ectomycorrhizas have not been fully examined. The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis of whether the abundance of the exploration types in the hosts with different phenology shows different temporal patterns over the seasons. Two host species, deciduous Quercus acutissima and evergreen Q. glauca, were planted in growth containers with natural forest soils and were grown in single or combined species treatment, under similar environmental conditions and in shared soil spore banks of the ectomycorrhizal fungi. The ectomycorrhizal exploration types that occurred on these two host species in two different treatments were observed for two growing seasons. The observed exploration types, namely contact, short-distance, and long-distance type as well as the overall abundance of the ectomycorrhizas showed distinct temporal patterns although no specific response to the host seasonal phenology was found. The abundances of the contact type showed no relation to the seasons whereas those of the short- and the long-distance type increased with time. The formation of the long-distance type was strongly influenced by the host species treatments while that of the other two types was not so. Therefore, the different exploration types demonstrate distinct temporal patterns depending on the types but no specific seasonal responses.