Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the growth and competition between invasive and native plants under different forms of soil nitrogen

Studies show that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) facilitate invasion of alien plants and demonstrated the enhanced mutualism hypothesis (EMH) of plant invasion. AMF prefer to take up and transfer more ammonia (NH₄⁺) than nitrate (NO₃⁻) to plants. However, few studies have investigated response of EMH to soil N forms. Therefore, two invasive and two native plants in the Asteraceae family were selected for a common garden experiment involving different N forms (NH₄⁺vs. NO₃⁻), AMF treatments (−AMF, +AMF, mycelium) and competition conditions (monoculture vs. mixture).