Plant identity strongly structures root-associated fungal community in a subtropical diverse forest. Plant identity strongly structures root-associated fungal community in a subtropical diverse forest

Revealing the relationship between plants and root-associated fungi is very important in understanding diversity maintenance and community assembly in ecosystems. However, the community assembly of root-associated fungi of focal plant species along a subtropical plant species diversity level is less documented. Here, we examined root-associated fungal communities associated with five ectomycorrhizal (EM) plant species (Betula luminifera, Castanea henryi, Castanopsis fargesii, C. sclerophylla, and Quercus serrate) in a Chinese subtropical woody plant species diversity (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 24 species) experiment, using a paired-end Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the ITS2 region. In total, we detected 1933 root-associated fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at a 97% sequence similarity level. Plant identity had a significant effect on total and saprotrophic fungal OTU richness, but plant species diversity level had a significant effect on saprotrophic and pathogenic fungal OTU richness. The community composition of total, saprotrophic, pathogenic and EM fungi was structured by plant identity and plant species diversity level (except for pathogenic fungi). This study highlights that plant identity has a stronger effect on root-associated fungal community than plant species diversity level in a subtropical diverse forest.