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1.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important functional components of ecosystems. Although there is accumulating knowledge about AMF diversity in different ecosystems, the effect of forest management on diversity and functional characteristics of AMF communities has not been addressed. Here, we used soil inoculum representing three different AM fungal communities (from a young forest stand, an old forest stand and an arable field) in a greenhouse experiment to investigate their effect on the growth of three plant species with contrasting local distributions - Geum rivale, Trifolium pratense and Hypericum maculatum. AM fungal communities in plant roots were analysed using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) method. The effect of natural AMF communities from the old and young forest on the growth of studied plant species was similar. However, the AMF community from the contrasting arable ecosystems increased H. maculatum root and shoot biomass compared with forest inocula and T. pratense root biomass compared to sterile control. According to ordination analysis AMF inocula from old and young forest resulted in similar root AMF communities whilst plants grown with AM fungi from arable field hosted a different AMF community from those grown with old forest inocula. AMF richness in plant roots was not related to the origin of AMF inoculum. G. rivale hosted a significantly different AM fungal community to that of T. pratense and H. maculatum. We conclude that although the composition of AM fungal communities in intensively managed stands differed from that of old stands, the ecosystem can still offer the ‘symbiotic service’ necessary for the restoration of a characteristic old growth understorey plant community.  相似文献   

2.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) produce a protein, glomalin, quantified operationally in soils as glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP). GRSP concentrations in soil can range as high as several mg g−1 soil, and GRSP is highly positively correlated with aggregate water stability. Given that AMF are obligate biotrophs (i.e. depending on host cells for their C supply), it is difficult to explain why apparently large amounts of glomalin would be produced and secreted actively into the soil, since the carbon could not be directly recaptured by the mycelium (and benefits to the AMF via increased soil structure would be diffuse and indirect). This apparent contradiction could be resolved by learning more about the pathway of delivery of glomalin into soil; namely, does this occur via secretion, or is glomalin tightly bound in the fungal walls and only released after hyphae are being degraded by the soil microbial community? In order to address this question, we grew the AMF Glomus intraradices in in vitro cultures and studied the release of glomalin from the mycelium and the accumulation of glomalin in the culture medium. Numerous protein-solubilizing treatments to release glomalin from the fungal mycelium were unsuccessful (including detergents, acid, base, solvents, and chaotropic agents), and the degree of harshness required to release the compound (autoclaving, enzymatic digestion) is consistent with the hypothesis that glomalin is tightly bound in hyphal and spore walls. Further, about 80% of glomalin (by weight) produced by the fungus was contained in hyphae and spores compared to that released into the culture medium, strongly suggesting that glomalin arrives mainly in soil via release from hyphae, and not primarily through secretion. These results point research on functions of glomalin and GRSP in a new direction, focusing on the contributions this protein makes to the living mycelium, rather than its role once it is released into the soil.  相似文献   

3.
The objective of this study was to test whether soil types can be characterized by their arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities. To answer this question, a well-defined study area in the temperate climatic zone of Central Europe was chosen with a large spectrum of soils and parent materials. Representative soil samples were taken from three soil types (Cambisol, Fluvisol and Leptosol) at in total 16 sites differing in agricultural land use intensity (9 grasslands and 7 arable lands). AMF spores were isolated and morphologically identified directly from field soils and after reproduction in trap cultures. AMF diversity and community composition strongly depended on soil type and land use intensity, and several AMF species were characteristic for a specific soil type or a specific land use type and hence had a specific niche. In contrast, other AM fungi could be considered as ‘generalists’ as they were present in each soil type investigated, irrespective of land use intensity. An estimated 53% of the 61 observed AMF species could be classified as ‘specialists’ as (almost) exclusively found in specific soil types and/or under specific land use intensities; 28% appeared to be ‘generalists’ and 19% could not be classified. Plant species compositions (either natural or planted) had only a subordinate influence on the AMF communities. In conclusion, land use intensity and soil type strongly affected AMF community composition as well as the presence and prevalence of many AM fungi. Future work should examine how the differences in AMF species compositions affect important ecosystem processes in different soils and to which extent the loss of specific groups of AM fungi affect soil quality.  相似文献   

4.
The study reports diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) species in the rhizosphere of an endangered anticancerous herb – Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. in its natural habitat. A total of 18 species of AMF, belonging to three genera (Acaulospora, Glomus and Gigaspora) were recorded, with Glomus microcarpum being the most abundant species type. The AMF species composition across the study sites appeared to be influenced by soil pH rather than soil P and vegetation. Acaulospora laevis spores were restricted to sites where the soil pH was acidic. The effectiveness of these native AMF species on growth performance of C. orchioides plants was compared under experimental conditions. In general, the mycorrhizal plants were superior in most of the evaluated parameters, but the extent to which the growth of mycorrhizal plants was influenced varied with the inocula used. The plants inoculated with mixed consortia containing maximum AMF species richness exhibited improved growth in comparison to consortia containing lower AMF diversity and monospecies cultures. The variable plant responses observed with any two consortia having same species richness in the present study could be due to variable component AMF species and their relative abundance. These results emphasize the need to protect the below-ground diversity of AMF and recommend their usage for restoration practices.  相似文献   

5.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) differ in their rate and extent of colonization of both plant roots and soil but the mechanism responsible for these differences is unclear. We compared the external mycelium of three AMF isolates (Glomus intraradices, Glomus etunicatum and Gigaspora gigantea) during early colonization of plant roots. We investigated whether an AMF with the most rapid colonization would have higher numbers of infective structures (i.e., infection hyphae and contact points), an AMF with extensive root colonization would have more infection units, and (3) AMF with extensive soil colonization would have large numbers of all external features (including absorptive hyphae, runner hyphae and hyphal bridges). Using specially designed soil and root observation chambers, we followed the development of the external mycelium for 7 weeks. We found that rapid colonization rate was due, in part, to the presence of more infective structures, in particular more infection hyphae and root contact points. Second, the extensive root colonizer had more, larger infection units. Third, data did not support the hypothesis that the extensive soil colonizer had more external structures. These results show that differences in the architecture of the external mycelium are responsible, in part, for variation in the colonization strategy of AMF.  相似文献   

6.
AM真菌群落改善保护地退化土壤质量和黄瓜生长的效应   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  
A pot experiment was performed to determine the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) communities on soil properties and the growth of cucumber seedlings in a degraded soil that had been used for continuous cucumber monoculture in a greenhouse for 15 years.In the experiment,AMF communities(created by combining various AMF species that were found to be dominant in natural farm soil) were inoculated into the degraded soil,and then the soil was planted with cucumber.Inoculation with AMF communities did not affect soil pH but increased soil aggregate stability and decreased the concentrations of salt ions and electrical conductivity(EC) in the soil.Inoculation with AMF communities increased the numbers of culturable bacteria and actinomycetes but reduced the number of fungi.AMF communities increased plant growth,soluble sugar content,chlorophyll content,and root activity compared to non-mycorrhizal or a single AMF species treatments.Improvements of soil quality and plant growth were greatest with the following two communities:Glomus etunicatum + G.mosseae + Gigaspora margarita + Acaulospora lacunosa and G.aggregatum + G.etunicatum + G.mosseae + G.versiforme + G.margarita + A.lacunosa.The results suggested that certain AMF communities could substantially improve the quality of degraded soil.  相似文献   

7.
中国北方森林坡向对土壤细菌和从枝菌根真菌群落的影响   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
The effects of slope aspects on soil biogeochemical properties and plant communities in forested environments have been studied extensively; however, slope aspect influence on soil microbial communities remains largely unexamined, despite the central role of soil biota in ecosystem functioning. In this study, the communities of both soil bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were investigated using tagged pyrosequencing for three types of slope aspects (south-facing aspect, north-facing aspect and flat area) in a boreal forest of the Greater Khingan Mountains, China. The bacterial and AMF community composition differed with slope aspects. Bacterial diversity was the lowest on the north-facing aspect, and AMF diversity was the lowest on the flat area. Aspects also had a significant impact on soil pH and available phosphorus (P) and shrubby biomass. Soil pH and understory shrub biomass were significantly correlated with bacterial communities, and soil available P and shrub biomass showed significant correlations with AMF communities. Our results suggested that slope aspects affected bacterial and AMF communities, mediated by aspect-induced changes in plant community and soil chemical properties (e.g., pH and available P), which improved the knowledge on the effects of forest slope aspects on aboveground and belowground communities.  相似文献   

8.
《土壤圈》2016,(2)
The effects of slope aspects on soil biogeochemical properties and plant communities in forested environments have been studied extensively;however,slope aspect influence on soil microbial communities remains largely unexamined,despite the central role of soil biota in ecosystem functioning.In this study,the communities of both soil bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)were investigated using tagged pyrosequencing for three types of slope aspects(south-facing aspect,north-facing aspect and flat area)in a boreal forest of the Greater Khingan Mountains,China.The bacterial and AMF community composition differed with slope aspects.Bacterial diversity was the lowest on the north-facing aspect,and AMF diversity was the lowest on the flat area.Aspects also had a significant impact on soil pH and available phosphorus(P) and shrubby biomass.Soil pH and understory shrub biomass were significantly correlated with bacterial communities,and soil available P and shrub biomass showed significant correlations with AMF communities.Our results suggested that slope aspects affected bacterial and AMF communities,mediated by aspect-induced changes in plant community and soil chemical properties(e.g.,pH and available P),which improved the knowledge on the effects of forest slope aspects on aboveground and belowground communities.  相似文献   

9.
Soil aggregation is a principal ecosystem process mediated by soil biota. Collembola and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are important groups in the soil, and can interact in various ways. Few studies have examined collembola effects on soil aggregation, while many have quantified AM effects. Here, we asked if collembola have any effect on soil aggregation, and if they alter AM fungi-mediated effects on soil aggregation.We carried out a factorial greenhouse study, manipulating the presence of both collembola and AM fungi, using two different plant species, Sorghum vulgare and Daucus carota. We measured root length and biomass, AMF (and non-AMF) soil hyphal length, root colonization, and collembolan populations, and quantified water stable soil aggregates (WSA) in four size classes.Soil exposed to growth of AMF hyphae and collembola individually had higher WSA than control treatments. Moreover, the interaction effects between AMF and collembola were significant, with non-additive increases in the combined application compared to the single treatments.Our findings show that collembola can play a crucial role in maintaining ecological sustainability through promoting soil aggregation, and point to the importance of considering organism interactions in understanding formation of soil structure.  相似文献   

10.
四种AM真菌接种剂的田间效应及其分子检测研究   总被引：5，自引：1，他引：5       下载免费PDF全文
采用灭菌土壤生产了 4种AM真菌接种剂。在盆栽条件下测试了接种剂的质量 ,结果显示 ,4种接种剂促进玉米生长效果明显 ,地上部分生物量均显著高于对照 (p <0 .0 1 ) ;以MPN试验检测了接种剂的侵染能力 ,结果表明每克接种剂中真菌的繁殖体数在 95～ 1 4 0 0之间。将AM真菌的预接种技术和农业生产上的营养钵育苗技术相结合 ,进行了玉米的田间试验 ,结果显示 ,玉米根系的AM真菌感染率早期增长较快 ,然后趋于平稳 ;AM真菌接种剂A(Glomusconstrictum)、C (Glomus三种菌混合 )和D (G .intraradices)对玉米籽粒产量有显著的增产效果 (p <0 .0 5 ) ;玉米籽粒的淀粉含量和磷含量也高于对照。运用特异性分子探针和nest ed PCR技术 ,从田间接种AM真菌Glomusintraradices和G .mosseae的玉米根样中粗提DNA进行特异性扩增 ,成功地从感染根段中检测到特定的接种AM真菌。本工作从分子水平为评价高效AM真菌的应用潜力、研究AM真菌之间及其与其他微生物之间的相互关系奠定了基础。  相似文献   

11.
Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plants are essential components of ecosystem functioning; however, they remain poorly known in dry ecosystems. We examined the relationship between seven shrub species and their associated AMF community in a semi-arid plant community in southern Spain. Soil characteristics and plant physiological status were measured and related to AMF community composition and genetic diversity by multivariate statistics. We found differences in AMF communities in soils under shrubs and in gaps among them, whereas no differences were detected among AMF communities colonizing roots. Soil nutrients content drove most of the spatial variations in the AMF community and genetic diversity. AMF communities were more heterogeneous in fertile islands with low nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio and vice versa. AMF genetic diversity increased in soils limited by phosphorus and with high soil organic matter content, while AMF genetic diversity increased in roots growing in soil not limited by phosphorus. Overall, we could not find a clear link between plant performance and the associated AMF community. Our findings show that different shrub species generate islands of fertility which differ in nutrient content and, therefore, support different AMF communities, increasing AMF diversity at the landscape level.  相似文献   

12.
The decomposition of plant organic matter and the stability of soil aggregates are important components of soil carbon cycling, and the relationship between decomposition rate and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has recently received considerable attention. The interaction of AMF with their associated microorganisms and the consequences for litter decomposition and soil aggregation still remain fairly unclear. In a laboratory pot experiment we simultaneously tested the single and combined effects of one AMF species (Rhizophagus irregularis) and a natural non-AMF microbial community on the decomposition of small wooden sticks and on soil aggregation. To disentangle effects of hyphae and roots we placed mesh bags as root exclusion compartments in the soil. The decomposition of the wooden sticks in this compartment was significantly reduced in the presence of AMF, but not with the non-AMF microbial community only, compared to the control, while aggregation was increased in all treatments compared to the control. We suggest that AMF directly (via localized nutrient removal or altered moisture conditions) or indirectly (by providing an alternative carbon source) inhibited the activity of decomposers, leading to different levels of plant litter degradation under our experimental settings. Reduced decomposition of woody litter in presence of AMF can be important for nutrient cycling in AMF-dominated forests and in the case of woody plants and perennials that develop lignified roots in grasslands.  相似文献   

13.
ABSTRACT

We conducted a field- and pot experiment with peas to investigate the impact of soil tillage and herbicide applications on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), plant growth, phosphorus concentrations, C:N ratio in plants and yield. The field study was carried out in a long-term soil tillage experiment where four tillage treatments have been compared. Field soil from the experimental plots were used for the pot experiment. AMF were not affected by herbicide (MCPB) application, neither in the field nor in the pot experiments. However, AMF root colonization was enhanced by reduced tillage, minimum tillage and no-tillage practices, compared to conventional tillage. In the pot experiment, plant growth and nodulation of pea roots was negatively affected by the high herbicide dosage. In the field experiment neither tillage nor herbicide treatment exert specific effects on root growth parameters, phosphorus concentrations, C:N ratio and plant dry matter. This work demonstrates that an appropriate herbicide usage coupled with conservation soil tillage techniques can favour AMF root colonization and benefit plant growth.

Abbreviations: AMF: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; CT: conventional tillage; RT: reduced tillage; MT: minimum tillage; NT: no tillage; P: Phosphorus; C:N ratio: carbon:nitrogen ratio  相似文献   

14.
Microbial communities are important components of terrestrial ecosystems. The importance of their diversity and functions for natural systems is well recognized. However, a better understanding of successional changes of microbial communities over long time scales is still required. In this work, the size and composition of microbial communities in soils of a deglaciation chronosequence at the Damma glacier forefield were studied by fatty acid profiling. Soil fatty acid concentrations clearly increased with soil age. The abundances of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), bacteria and other soil fungi, however, were more affected by abiotic soil parameters like carbon content and pH than by soil age. Analysis of ratios of the different microbial groups (AMF, fungi, bacteria) along the soil chronosequence indicated that: i) the ratios of AMF to bacteria and AMF to fungi decreased with soil age; and ii) the ratio of fungi to bacteria remained unchanged along the soil chronosequence. These two pieces of evidence suggest that the evolution of this ecosystem proceeds at an uneven pace over time and that the role of AMF is less important in older, more organic and acidified soils than in mineral soils. In contrast to other studies, no successional replacement of bacteria with fungi in more acidified and organic soil was observed.  相似文献   

15.
Background  Increasing awareness in the last decade concerning environmental quality had prompted research into ‘green solutions’ for soil and water remediation, progressing from laboratoryin vitro experiments to pot and field trials. In vitro cell culture experiments provide a convenient system to study basic biological processes, by which biochemical pathways, enzymatic activity and metabolites can be specifically studied. However, it is difficult to relate cell cultures, calli or even hydroponic experiments to the whole plant response to pollutant stress. In the field, plants are exposed to additional a-biotic and biotic factors, which complicate further plant response. Hence, we often see thatin vitro selected species perform poorly under soil and field conditions. Soil physical and chemical properties, plantmycorrhizal association and soil-microbial activity affect the process of contaminant degradation by plants and/or microorganisms, pointing to the importance of pot and field experiments. Objective  This paper is a joint effort of a group of scientists in COST action 837. It represents experimental work and an overview on plant response to environmental stress fromin vitro tissue culture to whole plant experiments in soil. Results  Results obtained fromin vitro plant tissue cultures and whole plant hydroponic experiments indicate the phytoremediation potential of different plant species and the biochemical mechanisms involved in plant tolerance. In pot experiments, several selected desert plant species, which accumulated heavy metal in hydroponic systems, succeeded in accumulating the heavy metal in soil conditions as well. Conclusions and Recommendations   In vitro plant tissue cultures provide a useful experimental system for the study of the mechanisms involved in the detoxification of organic and heavy metal pollutants. However, whole plant experimental systems, as well as hydroponics followed by pot and field trials, are essential when determining plant potential to remediate polluted sites. Multidisciplinary research teams can therefore increase our knowledge and promote a practical application of phytoremediation.  相似文献   

16.
Soil aggregation is a major ecosystem process that can be impacted by intensified land use directly through soil disturbances, or indirectly through impacts on biotic and abiotic factors that affect soil aggregation. We collected soils from 27 grassland sites across a range of land use intensities including varying levels of mowing, grazing, and fertilization in order to test the importance of selected direct and indirect effects on soil aggregation. We measured root length and mass, root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), extraradical AMF hyphal length, soil aggregation, and soil hydrophobicity. We also quantified levels of phosphorus, nitrogen, organic carbon, carbonate carbon, and sand in the soil.As land use intensity (defined as a multivariate index combining mowing, grazing, and fertilization intensities) increased, root mass decreased and length of extraradical hyphae increased. Total colonization by AMF was unaffected by land use intensity, but vesicular colonization tended to increase while arbuscular colonization declined. Soil aggregation increased with increasing land use intensity. We used structural equation models to explore mechanisms of soil aggregation and found that extraradical AMF hyphal length contributed to soil aggregation in models containing only biotic explanatory factors. When we also included abiotic factors in the model, no biotic factor was significant, and soil aggregation decreased as levels of sand and carbonate increased, likely due to concurrent decreases in levels of clay in the soil.In summary, we have shown that agricultural measures such as mowing, grazing, and fertilization can increase soil aggregation in managed grasslands. Furthermore, abiotic factors can be more important for determining soil aggregation than biotic factors, especially in highly aggregated soils. Aggregate turnover may be reduced in such highly aggregated soils past the point required to ensure efficient integration of new labile C into stable aggregates.  相似文献   

17.
Twenty strains of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), native to West Africa, and three commercial AMF, were evaluated for their protective effect against root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., in pots and field experiments in Benin. In pots, these strains were assessed in sterilized soil following inoculation of nematodes and in non-sterilized soil naturally infested with nematodes using tomato. The four strains showing greatest potential in suppressing nematode development were further assessed in the field with a relatively high natural infestation level of nematodes (155 per 100 cm3 soil) over a tomato–carrot double cropping. In the pot experiments, most native strains provided significant suppression of nematode multiplication and root galling, but in most cases the level of nematode control depends on either sterilized or non-sterilized soils. In the field experiments, application of AMF mostly resulted in significant suppression of nematode multiplication and root galling damage on both crops indicating that the AMF persists and remains protective against root-knot nematodes over two crop cycles. Field application of AMF increased tomato yields by 26% and carrot yields by over 300% compared with the non-AMF control treatments. This study demonstrates for the first time, the protective effect of indigenous West African AMF against root-knot nematodes on vegetables. The potential benefits of developing non-pesticide AMF-based pest management options for the intensive urban vegetable systems are evident.  相似文献   

18.
An open question with regard to the community ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) concerns how to best amplify AMF in the soil, which contains a large proportion of DNA from AM extra-radical mycelium and spores. However, to date, a direct comparison of AMF primers for soil samples, which would systematically assess their amplification efficiency, is still missing. In our present study, we compared and characterized four widely used primer sets targeting AMF 18S rDNA or SSU-ITS-LSU rDNA from three soil samples as follows: (1) SSUmAf/LSUmAr?+?SSUmCf/LSUmBr, (2) GeoA2/Geo11?+?NS31/AM1, (3) AML1/AML2?+?NS31/AM1 and (4) AMV4.5NF/AMDGR. These primer sets were compared in terms of the proportion of Glomeromycota detected, AMF diversity and community composition. Our data revealed that the newly combined primer set 3 was the most suitable one for amplifying AMF from soil samples. It yielded the highest AMF alpha diversity, and was very specific to Glomeromycota. Primer set 2 was unable to amplify Claroideoglomus from soil 1, which was the dominant AMF clade as proved by other three primer sets. Primer set 4 demonstrated its instability among different soil samples, since the proportion of AMF in total sequences varied from 5% to 83%. Although primer set 1 showed the highest proportion of AMF (95–100%) in the soil samples, it captured the lowest AMF diversity, and the operational taxonomic units obtained by this primer set were only 36.4% of that by primer set 4. Taken together, our data suggested that AMF diversity in soil samples could be underestimated by primer set 1, 2 and 4. Our result confirmed the important role of the choice of AMF primers for analyzing AMF communities in soil and explored the most suitable one for amplifying AMF from soil samples.  相似文献   

19.
Crop rotation adoption in no‐tillage systems (NTS) has been recommended to increase the biological activity and soil aggregation, suppress soil and plant pathogens, and increase the productivity aiming at the sustainability of agricultural areas. In this context, this study aimed to assess the effect of crop rotation on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community and soil aggregation in a soil cultivated for nine years under NTS. Treatments consisted of combinations of three summer crop sequences and seven winter crops. Summer crop sequences consisted of corn (Zea mays L.) monoculture, soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) monoculture, and soybean–corn rotation. Winter crops consisted of corn, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus L.), and millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke). Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0–0.10 m for analyses of soil chemical, physical, and biological attributes. Spore abundance, total glomalin, and soil aggregate stability index were higher in the soil under corn monoculture. The highest values of aggregate mean weight diameter were observed in the soybean–corn rotation (3.78 mm) and corn monoculture (3.70 mm), both differing from soybean monoculture (3.15 mm), while winter crops showed significant differences only between sorghum (3.96 mm) and pigeon pea (3.25 mm). Two processes were identified in the soil under summer crop sequences. The first process was observed in PC1 (spore abundance, total glomalin, easily extractable glomalin, pH, P, and Mg2+) and was related to AMF; the second process occurred in PC2 (aggregate mean weight diameter, soil aggregate stability index, K+, and organic matter) and was related to soil aggregation. The nine‐year no‐tillage system under the same crop rotation adoption influenced AMF abundance in the soil, especially with corn cultivation in the summer crop sequence, which promoted an increased total external mycelium length and number of spores of AMF. In addition, it favored an increased soil organic matter content, which is directly related to the formation and stability of soil aggregates in these managements.  相似文献   

20.
Woody plant encroachment is an important land cover change in dryland ecosystems throughout the world, and frequently alters above and belowground primary productivity, hydrology, and soil microbial biomass and activity. However, there is little known regarding the impact of this geographically widespread vegetation change on the biodiversity and trophic structure of soil fauna. Nematodes represent a major component of the soil microfauna whose community composition and trophic structure could be strongly influenced by the changes in ecosystem structure and function that accompany woody encroachment. Our purpose was to characterize nematode community composition and trophic structure along a grassland to woodland chronosequence in the Rio Grande Plains of southern Texas. Research was conducted at the La Copita Research Area where woody encroachment has been documented previously. Soil cores (0–10 cm) were collected in fall 2006 and spring 2007 from remnant grasslands and woody plant stands ranging in age from 15 to 86 years, and nematodes were extracted by sugar centrifugation. Neither nematode densities (3200–13,800 individuals kg−1 soil) nor family richness (15–19 families 100 g−1 soil) were altered by woody encroachment. However, family evenness decreased dramatically in woody stands >30 years old. This change in evenness corresponded to modifications in the trophic structure of nematode communities following grassland to woodland conversion. Although root biomass was 2–5× greater in wooded areas, root-parasitic nematodes decreased from 40% of all nematodes in grasslands to <10% in the older wooded areas, suggesting the quality (C:N or biochemical defenses) of woody plant root tissue could be limiting root-parasites. In contrast, bacterivores increased from 30% of nematodes in grasslands to 70–80% in older woody patches. This large increase in bacterivores may be a response to the 1.5–2.5× increase in soil microbial biomass (bacteria + fungi) following woody encroachment. Therefore, while energy flow through grassland nematode communities appears to be distributed nearly equally among herbivory, fungivory and bacterivory, the energy flow through nematode communities in wooded areas appears to be based primarily on bacterivory. We speculate that these shifts in nematode community composition and trophic structure could have important implications for ecosystem patterns and processes. First, the low abundance of root-parasitic nematodes (and presumably root herbivory) under woody plants may be one mechanism by which woody plants are able to establish and compete effectively with grasses during succession from grassland to woodland. Second, the large increase in bacterivores following woody encroachment likely accelerates microbial turnover and the mineralization of N, thereby providing a feedback that enables the persistence of N-rich woody plant communities.  相似文献   

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