Dispersal of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Evidence and Insights for Ecological Studies
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Dispersal of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Evidence and Insights for Ecological Studies Claudia Paz 1,2
&
Maarja Öpik 2
&
Leticia Bulascoschi 1
&
C. Guillermo Bueno 2
&
Mauro Galetti 1,3
Received: 14 January 2020 / Accepted: 19 August 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Dispersal is a critical ecological process that modulates gene flow and contributes to the maintenance of genetic and taxonomic diversity within ecosystems. Despite an increasing global understanding of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal diversity, distribution and prevalence in different biomes, we have largely ignored the main dispersal mechanisms of these organisms. To provide a geographical and scientific overview of the available data, we systematically searched for the direct evidence on the AM fungal dispersal agents (abiotic and biotic) and different propagule types (i.e. spores, extraradical hyphae or colonized root fragments). We show that the available data (37 articles) on AM fungal dispersal originates mostly from North America, from temperate ecosystems, from biotic dispersal agents (small mammals) and AM fungal spores as propagule type. Much lesser evidence exists from South American, Asian and African tropical systems and other dispersers such as large-bodied birds and mammals and non-spore propagule types. We did not find strong evidence that spore size varies across dispersal agents, but wind and large animals seem to be more efficient dispersers. However, the data is still too scarce to draw firm conclusions from this finding. We further discuss and propose critical research questions and potential approaches to advance the understanding of the ecology of AM fungi dispersal. Keywords Glomeromycotina . Propagule . Biotic dispersal . Abiotic dispersal . Mycophagy
Introduction Dispersal is a fundamental ecological process that exposes organisms to new conditions, directly influencing their fitness. Dispersal modulates and enhances gene flow between populations and contributes to the community diversity within ecosystems [1–4]. Dispersal is also one of the major processes shaping the local communities and species pools [5, 6], thus understanding dispersal is a major requirement when Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01582-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Claudia Paz [email protected] 1
Department of Ecology, Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University, Av 24A 1515, Rio Claro, SP 13506-900, Brazil
2
Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40 Street, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
3
Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Miami, FL 33146, USA
explaining biodiversity patterns [6, 7]. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi resemble plants and other sessile organisms in three principal aspects of dispersal: the immobile source of propagules (spores, extraradical hyphae, colonized roo
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