Morgan McPherson, a joint post-doctoral scholar in the Zak and Ibáñez lab at SEAS, has a new paper out titled “Arbuscular mycorrhizal diversity increases across a plant productivity gradient driven by soil nitrogen availability”. This study characterized the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soils across a plant productivity gradient, coinciding with a nitrogen mineralization gradient. The soils were associated with Red and Sugar Maple trees in Manistee National Forest, which are known AMF host species. AMF-specific 18S rDNA targeted-gene libraries were constructed using in-lab designed primers to examine the communities and diversity of AMF. Their diversity significantly increased along the productivity gradient, which may be a response to increase carbon allocation from the increased plant growth. These results increase our understanding of the complex symbiosis and turnover of AMF and their interaction with host–plant performance. The paper is out in Plant-Environment Interactions and can be found here.
