Abstract
Soil biota can determine plant invasiveness, yet biogeographical comparisons of microbial community composition and function across ranges are rare. We compared interactions between Conyza canadensis, a global plant invader, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in 17 plant populations in each native and non-native range spanning similar climate and soil fertility gradients. We then grew seedlings in the greenhouse inoculated with AM fungi from the native range. In the field, Conyza plants were larger, more fecund, and associated with a richer community of more closely related AM fungal taxa in the non-native range. Fungal taxa that were more abundant in the non-native range also correlated positively with plant biomass, whereas taxa that were more abundant in the native range appeared parasitic. These patterns persisted when populations from both ranges were grown together in a greenhouse; non-native populations cultured a richer and more diverse AM fungal community and selected AM fungi that appeared to be more mutualistic. Our results provide experimental support for evolution toward enhanced mutualism in non-native ranges. Such novel relationships and the rapid evolution of mutualisms may contribute to the disproportionate abundance and impact of some non-native plant species.
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Population means required to repeat analyses are available in the Supplementary Information for this paper.
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Acknowledgements
YL, MM, and LSB are thankful to MPG Ranch for funding. MS is thankful to Shaanxi provincial special program for technological innovation (2020QFY10-01), Shaanxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2021JM-094) and China Scholarship Council for funding. CR was supported by a DAAD postdoctoral fellowship (91554701). RMC thanks the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Track-1 Cooperative Agreement (OIA-1757351) for support. MAS acknowledges the support from the RUSA 2.0 Project by MHRD Govt. of India and DK acknowledges the support of a Discovery Grant (from NSERC). The authors thank Kelly LaFlamme for help with greenhouse maintenance, harvest, and sample processing, and Martine Lapointe and Marie-Eve Beaulieu (Université Laval) for collecting plant material and field data in Canada.
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MS, CR, and YL conceived the idea of the study and all co-authors provided input on the design. MS and CR conducted all statistical analyses with input from YL and LB. YL, MS, and CR wrote the first draft. All co-authors were involved in either sampling or sample processing and provided edits to earlier drafts.
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Sheng, M., Rosche, C., Al-Gharaibeh, M. et al. Acquisition and evolution of enhanced mutualism—an underappreciated mechanism for invasive success?. ISME J 16, 2467–2478 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01293-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01293-w
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