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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Mycorrhizal fungi influence global plant biogeography
Nature Ecology and Evolution, Volume 3, No. 3, Year 2019
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Description
Island biogeography has traditionally focused primarily on abiotic drivers of colonization, extinction and speciation. However, establishment on islands could also be limited by biotic drivers, such as the absence of symbionts. Most plants, for example, form symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi, whose limited dispersal to islands could act as a colonization filter for plants. We tested this hypothesis using global-scale analyses of ~1.4 million plant occurrences, including ~200,000 plant species across ~1,100 regions. We find evidence for a mycorrhizal filter (that is, the filtering out of mycorrhizal plants on islands), with mycorrhizal associations less common among native island plants than native mainland plants. Furthermore, the proportion of native mycorrhizal plants in island floras decreased with isolation, possibly as a consequence of a decline in symbiont establishment. We also show that mycorrhizal plants contribute disproportionately to the classic latitudinal gradient of plant species diversity, with the proportion of mycorrhizal plants being highest near the equator and decreasing towards the poles. Anthropogenic pressure and land use alter these plant biogeographical patterns. Naturalized floras show a greater proportion of mycorrhizal plant species on islands than in mainland regions, as expected from the anthropogenic co-introduction of plants with their symbionts to islands and anthropogenic disturbance of symbionts in mainland regions. We identify the mycorrhizal association as an overlooked driver of global plant biogeographical patterns with implications for contemporary island biogeography and our understanding of plant invasions. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Delavaux, Camille S.
United States, Lawrence
University of Kansas
Weigelt, Patrick
Germany, Gottingen
Georg-august-universität Göttingen
Dawson, Wayne
United Kingdom, Durham
Durham University
Essl, Franz
Austria, Vienna
Universität Wien
van Kleunen, Mark
Germany, Konstanz
Universität Konstanz
China, Linhai
Taizhou University
König, Christian
Germany, Gottingen
Georg-august-universität Göttingen
Pergl, Jan
Czech Republic, Prague
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Pyšek, Petr
Czech Republic, Prague
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic, Prague
Charles University
Germany, Leipzig
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Idiv Halle-jena-leipzig
Stein, Anke
Germany, Konstanz
Universität Konstanz
Winter, Marten
Germany, Leipzig
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Idiv Halle-jena-leipzig
Kreft, Holger
Germany, Gottingen
Georg-august-universität Göttingen
Statistics
Citations: 74
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 10
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/s41559-019-0823-4
ISSN:
2397334X