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Open Access Journal of
eISSN: 2575-9086

Science

Opinion Volume 2 Issue 1

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and alien plant species

Pradeep Kumar Singh

Department of Botany, Goswami Ganesh Datta Sanatan Dharma College, India

Correspondence: Pradeep Kumar Singh, Department of Botany, Goswami Ganesh Datta Sanatan Dharma College, India, Tel 7347666567

Received: January 09, 2018 | Published: January 16, 2018

Citation: Singh PK. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and alien plant species. Open Access J Sci. 2018;2(1):23-24. DOI: 10.15406/oajs.2018.02.00039

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Opinion

It is debated that alien plants in environments benefit from being arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi) and whether widely distributed natives and aliens differ in their associations with AM fungi. Biological invasion is one of the major threats associated with global change due to its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem. The direction and degree to which invasive alien and native plants are influenced by mycorrhizal associations could indicate a general mechanism of plant invasion, but whether or not such differences exist is unclear. The introduction of alien plants can influence biodiversity and ecosystems. However, its consequences for soil microbial communities remain poorly understood. The negative consequences of plant invasions have stimulated extensive research to identifying the responsible mechanisms and identify efficacious management strategies. Numbers of alien plant species have been increasing in floras around the world,1 and interest in the processes and mechanisms underlying the successful establishment and spread of aliens in new environments has emerged in parallel.2,3

The invasion success of alien plant species depends, amongst other things, on their functional traits4 and the susceptibility of ecosystems. There is now increasing interest in including biotic interactions particularly mutualistic associations,5 into frameworks assessing alien plant invasions, as they help bridge the invisibility and invasiveness features. The great majority of terrestrial plant species are associated with AM fungi,6 and these appear to be important in determined the ecology of plant species and communities.7,8 The function of the AM fungal symbiosis during the alien plant invasion process has subsequently gained increasing consideration. AM fungi can increase growth and competitiveness of spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) which is one of the most invasive weeds in the intermountain west of the USA.9 Euphorbia esula increases AM fungi abundance and diversity compared to remnant native communities.10 According to11 insignificant difference between invasive and native plants in their growth responses to AM fungi, signifying that invasions do not select for directional shifts in AM fungi associations.

According to12 the storage organs and retention of the AM fungi symbiosis may characterize to compete carbon (C) sinks. The AM fungal symbiosis potentially affects nutrient uptake and the C economy of plant species. AM fungi can supply up to 90% of plant phosphorus (P) uptake, up to 20% of nitrogen (N) uptake, and consume a significant fraction of plant net primary production.1 Hence, despite the benefits plants gain from the symbiosis, there is a potential cost in terms of C provided to the fungal partner, and trade-offs between retention of the mycorrhizal symbiosis and the development of other C-costly plant properties have been predicted.13 It can be concluded that alien plant species and their relationship with the AM fungi were related to trades of C allocation, and that these differences affect the distribution of those species groups. Incorporating plant mycorrhizal status and other mycorrhiza-related plant functional traits may thus help to provide further understanding of the establishment of alien plant species and their invasion success.14–16

Acknowledgements

None.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

References

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©2018 Singh. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.

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