The EcM fungal assemblages for two dominant tree species —Abies faxoniana and Betula albosinensis in alpine successional forests on eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Ectomycorrhzal fungi (EcM) for two dominant EcM trees collected in 3 successional forests

Although much is known about how plants and environments influence rhizosphere microbes and/or enzyme activities in temperate and alpine forests, less is known about how mycorrhizal associations in turn regulate successional dynamics of tree population and plant community structure. Given that rhizosphere microbial preference, host specificity of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi and the persistence of common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs), we hypothesized that the ecological stoichiometry of C : N : P and symbiotic fungal community assembly in mycorrhizosphere may differ within intra- or inter-specific EcM dominant tree species during forest succession; thereby the mycorrhizal associations would jointly regulate dominant tree population dynamics and then plant community structure.