Impact of Parthenium hysterophorus L. invasion on soil fungal communities in the Yellow River Delta

Abstract Purpose As an invasive plant, Parthenium hysterophorus severely impacts the ecological environment of the Yellow River Delta and reduces biodiversity in the invaded areas. The effects of P. hysterophorus invasion on the local environment became increasingly critical, while few information was available for the effects of P. hysterophorus invasion on soil bacteria. The present study aimed to reveal the impacts of hysterophorus on the fungal communities in the Yellow River Delta. Methods Sixteen soil samples including four groups (ROOT group, YRR group, YNR group, and GBS group) were collected. High-throughput methods were used to explore the fungal composition of the P. hysterophorus -invaded surrounding environment and native plant-growed environment. Results Our results showed that the ACE (351.97) and Chao1 (351.95) values of the rhizosphere soils of P. hysterophorus (YRR group) were the highest among the four groups, whereas the non-rhizosphere soil samples of P. hysterophorus (YNR group) had the highest Shannon (7.188) and Simpson (0.984) values. The total number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) obtained from the four groups was 1965, with 161 common OTUs among different groups. At the phylum level, both Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant fungi, with Ascomycota having the highest abundance. At the genus level, except for the endophytic fungi of P. hysterophorus roots (ROOT group), Fusarium , Mortierella , Comoclathris , and Cladosporium were the dominant fungi in three groups. The fungal communities within the roots of P. hysterophorus were distant from other groups, indicating that the composition of the fungal communities within the roots had a low degree of similarity to the other three groups. LEfSe analysis showed that Ascomycota at the phylum level and Cladosporium , Curvularia , and Alternaria at the genus level play essential roles in the ROOT group, and Comoclathris plays a vital role in the YNR group. Conclusions This study explored the effects of P. hysterophorus invasion on the local soil fungal communities by analyzing the fungal communities in P. hysterophorus roots , rhizosphere soil, non-rhizosphere soil, and rhizosphere soil of native plants. Generally, P. hysterophorus rhizosphere fungi specifically affect the surrounding environment.