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Arbuscular mycorrhizal trees influence the latitudinal beta-diversity gradient of tree communities in forests worldwide

  • Yonglin Zhong
  • , Chengjin Chu
  • , Jonathan A. Myers
  • , Gregory S. Gilbert
  • , James A. Lutz
  • , Jonas Stillhard
  • , Kai Zhu
  • , Jill Thompson
  • , Jennifer L. Baltzer
  • , Fangliang He
  • , Joseph A. LaManna
  • , Stuart J. Davies
  • , Kristina J. Aderson-Teixeira
  • , David F.R.P. Burslem
  • , Alfonso Alonso
  • , Kuo Jung Chao
  • , Xugao Wang
  • , Lianming Gao
  • , David A. Orwig
  • , Xue Yin
  • Xinghua Sui, Zhiyao Su, Iveren Abiem, Pulchérie Bissiengou, Norm Bourg, Nathalie Butt, Min Cao, Chia Hao Chang-Yang, Wei Chun Chao, Hazel Chapman, Yu Yun Chen, David A. Coomes, Susan Cordell, Alexandre A. de Oliveira, Hu Du, Suqin Fang, Christian P. Giardina, Zhanqing Hao, Andrew Hector, Stephen P. Hubbell, David Janík, Patrick A. Jansen, Mingxi Jiang, Guangze Jin, David Kenfack, Kamil Král, Andrew J. Larson, Buhang Li, Xiankun Li, Yide Li, Juyu Lian, Luxiang Lin, Feng Liu, Yankun Liu, Yu Liu, Fuchen Luan, Yahuang Luo, Keping Ma, Yadvinder Malhi, Sean M. McMahon, William McShea, Hervé Memiaghe, Xiangcheng Mi, Mike Morecroft, Vojtech Novotny, Michael J. O’Brien, Jan den Ouden, Geoffrey G. Parker, Xiujuan Qiao, Haibao Ren, Glen Reynolds, Pavel Samonil, Weiguo Sang, Guochun Shen, Zhiqiang Shen, Guo Zhang Michael Song, I. Fang Sun, Hui Tang, Songyan Tian, Amanda L. Uowolo, María Uriarte, Bin Wang, Xihua Wang, Youshi Wang, George D. Weiblen, Zhihong Wu, Nianxun Xi, Wusheng Xiang, Han Xu, Kun Xu, Wanhui Ye, Mingjian Yu, Fuping Zeng, Minhua Zhang, Yingming Zhang, Li Zhu, Jess K. Zimmerman
  • Sun Yat-Sen University
  • Washington University St. Louis
  • University of California at Santa Cruz
  • Utah State University
  • Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
  • Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
  • Wilfrid Laurier University
  • University of Alberta
  • East China Normal University
  • Marquette University
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • University of Aberdeen
  • National Chung Hsing University
  • CAS - Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology
  • CAS - Kunming Institute of Botany
  • Harvard University
  • South China Agricultural University
  • University of Jos
  • The Nigerian Montane Forest Project
  • University of Canterbury
  • Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique
  • University of Queensland
  • CAS - Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
  • National Sun Yat-sen University
  • National Chiayi University
  • National Dong Hwa University
  • University of Cambridge
  • United States Department of Agriculture
  • Universidade de São Paulo
  • CAS - Institute of Subtropical Agriculture
  • Northwestern Polytechnical University Xian
  • University of Oxford
  • University of California at Los Angeles
  • Silva Tarouca Research Institute
  • Wageningen University & Research
  • CAS - Wuhan Institute of Botany
  • Northeast Forestry University
  • CAS - Guangxi Institute of Botany
  • Chinese Academy of Forestry
  • CAS - South China Institute of Botany
  • The Administrative Bureau of Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve
  • Heilongjiang Forestry Engineering and Environment Institute
  • Guangdong Chebaling National Nature Reserve
  • CAS - Institute of Botany
  • Natural England
  • University of South Bohemia
  • Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
  • Danum Valley Field Centre
  • Minzu University of China
  • Columbia University
  • University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  • Zhejiang University
  • University of Puerto Rico

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Scopus citations

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) associations are critical for host-tree performance. However, how mycorrhizal associations correlate with the latitudinal tree beta-diversity remains untested. Using a global dataset of 45 forest plots representing 2,804,270 trees across 3840 species, we test how AM and EcM trees contribute to total beta-diversity and its components (turnover and nestedness) of all trees. We find AM rather than EcM trees predominantly contribute to decreasing total beta-diversity and turnover and increasing nestedness with increasing latitude, probably because wide distributions of EcM trees do not generate strong compositional differences among localities. Environmental variables, especially temperature and precipitation, are strongly correlated with beta-diversity patterns for both AM trees and all trees rather than EcM trees. Results support our hypotheses that latitudinal beta-diversity patterns and environmental effects on these patterns are highly dependent on mycorrhizal types. Our findings highlight the importance of AM-dominated forests for conserving global forest biodiversity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3137
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2021

Funding

This research paper was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31925027, 31622014 and 31570426) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (20lgpy116). Funding and citation information for each forest plot is available in Supplementary References.

FundersFunder number
31622014, 31570426, 31925027
National Natural Science Foundation of China
20lgpy116

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