How natural communities of mycorrhizal fungi affect plant-herbivore interactions. Glomeromycotina

Plants were grown with no AM fungi or were inoculated with native fungal communities sourced from either a crop field (field community), a sclerophyll forest (forest community), or a crop field in fallow (fallow community). We then explored how the composition and structure (species richness and relative abundance) of root-colonising AM fungal communities was associated with the growth and belowground nutrient responses of a major crop (Sorghum bicolor) to attack from a root-feeding insect (Dermolepida albohirtum).

供试植株分为两类处理：其一为不接种丛枝菌根真菌（Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi）的对照组，其二为接种三类源自不同生境的本土真菌群落的处理组，三类真菌群落分别取自农田（命名为农田群落）、硬叶林（命名为硬叶林群落）及休耕农田（命名为休耕农田群落）。本研究探究了定殖于宿主根系的丛枝菌根真菌群落的组成与结构（涵盖物种丰富度与相对丰度），与主栽作物高粱（Sorghum bicolor）在遭受根食性昆虫（Dermolepida albohirtum）为害时的生长表现及地下养分响应之间的关联。