New global data on plant mycorrhizal types suggests that global distribution of mycorrhizas, and their impacts on biogeochemical cycles, are shaped by climate.

Abstract:

Mycorrhiza, a belowground symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi, represent an important but yet underappreciated dimension of plant functional diversity. While nearly all plant species on Earth possess one or multiple types of such relationships, our understanding of their spatial dynamics and response to environmental change is still in its infancy. Recent research has convincingly demonstrated that the differences in the type of mycorrhizal association, and the related differences in plant and fungal traits, greatly impact carbon allocation patterns in plants and soil, and therewith drive the dynamics of terrestrial carbon pools, with ultimate knock-off impacts on climate.

Till resent, absence of global datasets describing geographic distribution of mycorrhizal types retarded research aimed to quantify global variation in impacts of mycorrhizal symbiosis on functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. We present the new, database of plant mycorrhizal types and root colonization intensity by mycorrhizal fungi, (11.000 species; above 27.000 records in total). Using this unique data, we constructed the first global maps of distribution of mycorrhizal plants and quantified global patterns of the relationships between environment, and type and intensity of mycorrhizal root colonization. We have shown that climate and land use change are paramount drivers of variation in multiple aspects of mycorrhiza-related plant traits, suggesting that climate change is likely to affect distribution of mycorrhizas, with a potentially strong impact on terrestrial carbon pools, as well as functional diversity of Earth ecosystems.