Towards understanding community assembly in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: from structural traits to fundamental and realized niches
| Name: | Towards understanding community assembly in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: from structural traits to fundamental and realized niches |
|---|---|
| Researchers: |
Fričová Renata (researcher) Rydlová Jana (researcher) Sudová Radka (researcher) Janoušková Martina (researcher) Kolaříková (roz. Sýkorová) Zuzana (researcher) Chroustová Veronika (member in research team) |
| Provider: | |
| Number: | 22-06936S |
| Realization from: | 2022 |
| Realization to: | 2024 |
| Summary: | Despite constituting a small and highly specialized fungal group, species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) vary in a range of traits, which determine their distribution and potential as plant symbionts. Our current understanding of the autecology of AMF species, however, is almost exclusively based on realized niches provided by AMF community studies. The aim of the proposed project is therefore to link the realized-niche data with information on fundamental niches and structural traits of AMF species in order to enable predictions of the species responses to environmental change. About 60 isolates of 20 ecologically important AMF species will be screened in a series of experiments in order to determine their mycelial morphology and anatomy as well as growth responses to gradients of temperature, soil pH and phosphorus availability, as three important dimensions of AMF niches. Modelling will be used to relate the fundamental niche and trait information to realized-niche data derived from databases, and to generate the predictions. |