Mycorrhizal responses to defoliation of woody hosts

Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi are important contributors to the functioning of boreal forests, since they act in the bilateral carbon and nutrient transport between above- and belowground parts of the ecosystem. In ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis of woody host plants, both fungal and plant partners depend on resources provided by the other. A single tree may simultaneously host several ECM fungal partners, which greatly enhance the host's nutrient uptake. At the same time nearly 20% of host primary production is allocated to mycorrhizal fungi. Although fungi depend on host-derived carbon, it is poorly understood how reduced carbon availability, e.g., due to herbivory, affects the ECM fungal symbionts. In this thesis I studied the impact of simulated insect defoliation or mammal browsing on mycorrhizal fungi of boreal woody hosts. Quantitative and qualitative changes in biomass partitioning in different fungal compartments were detected. None of the experiments showed that defoliation or shoot clipping treatments reduced the intensity of ECM colonisation, while treatments often shifted fungal composition towards less biomass producing ECM morphotypes. Above- and belowground diversity in ECM symbionts tended to decrease due to shoot or foliar damage. In addition, in some cases defoliation also reduced fungal biomass in fine roots and decreased ECM sexual reproduction by reducing the number of sporocarps produced. Defoliation induced a similar response pattern in the host and in ECM fungi with a stronger response to increasing severity of treatment (e.g. degree of removed foliage or repeated years of defoliation). This was also confirmed when relating the effects of host and ECM fungal symbionts to defoliation using present and previously published data. The present results suggest that belowground adaptation of boreal trees to the changing environment is mediated by changes in fungal community or biomass partitioning. The lack of response in the intensity of ECM colonisation further emphasises the importance of the symbiosis to boreal trees