Plant geographic origin and phylogeny as potential drivers of community structure in root-inhabiting fungi

1. Root-inhabiting fungal communities, including mutualists and antagonists, influence host plant performance, and can potentially shape plant community composition. However, there is uncertainty about how root-inhabiting fungal communities are structured, and if fungal community characteristics are significant predictors of host plant abundance.
2. In this study, we first assessed how root-inhabiting fungal communities were structured in relation to the phylogeny and geographic origins (native vs exotic) of their host plants in an old-field community. In addition, we took into consideration the spatial arrangements (i.e. physical locations) of the individual host plants. We then tested if the relative abundances of pathogenic and beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi could predict host plant abundances.
3. We found that host plant phylogeny was an important factor in structuring the whole fungal community, irrespective of host plant origin. Furthermore, the spatial arrangement...