Interaction between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and litter contributes to responses of Solidago canadensis to nutrient stress

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2025.0173

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Plant invasions often lead to the loss of local species diversity and cause significant economic losses. The Enhanced Mutualisms Hypothesis, a widely recognized invasion mechanism, suggests that alien plant species capitalize on novel but strong soil mutualists, enhancing their success in invasion. In this study, the contributions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and litter to the growth strategy of invasive plant under different nutrient conditions were investigated.

Methods We inoculated AMF (Claroideoglomus etunicatum) and leaf litter to explore the roles of AMF-litter interactions in the responses of notorious invasive Solidago canadensis under varying nutrient conditions.

Important findings The results showed that litter addition significantly increased the mycorrhizal colonization rate and ratio of abundance class in S. canadensis. Under low-nutrient conditions, both AMF and litter promoted the stem length, leaf area and above-ground biomass, but significantly decreased the root-shoot ratio, and with the most pronounced synergistic enhancement observed in AMF-litter interactions. Under normal nutrient conditions, only AMF-litter interactions significantly inhibited the development of root system but increased the above-ground biomass in S. canadensis. Relative Interaction Intensity (RII) analysis further revealed that AMF and litter significantly stimulated above-ground growth, with stronger effects under low-nutrient conditions compared to normal nutrient levels. These findings suggest that S. canadensis could adjust the allocation strategies for aboveground-belowground resource by AMF-litter interactions to respond low-nutrient stress. This study provides novel insights into how invasive plant utilize symbiotic AMF and litter interactions to mediate resource allocation under nutrient heterogeneity, advancing our understanding of the mechanism underlying the successful invasion of alien plants.

Key words: plant invasion, nutrient stress, plant-microbe interaction, resource allocation, growth strategy

REN Xi-Tong, LI Ying, ZHANG Yu, XIONG Hu-An-He, ZHANG Rui-Ke, QI Shan-Shan, DAI Zhi-Cong, DU Dao-Lin. Interaction between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and litter contributes to responses of Solidago canadensis to nutrient stress[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2026, 50(3): 710-721.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2025.0173

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2026/V50/I3/710

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Procedure schematic of experimental design. AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. -AMF, without AMF addition; +AMF, with AMF addition; -Litter, without litter addition ; +Litter, with litter addition.

Fig. 2 Mycorrhizal colonization rate (A) and Ratio of abundance class (B) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under different conditions. -Litter/+Litter, without/with litter addition; Low-N/Nor-N, low/normal nutrient conditions. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (n = 11, p < 0.05).

Fig. 3 Growth phenotype of above-ground parts of Solidago canadensis under different conditions (mean ± SD). AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; -AMF/+AMF, without/with AMF addition; -Litter/+Litter, without/with litter addition; Low-N/Nor-N, low/normal nutrient conditions. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments (n = 11, p < 0.05).

Fig. 4 Growth phenotype of belowground parts of Solidago canadensis under different conditions (mean ± SD). AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; -AMF/+AMF, without/with AMF addition; -Litter/+Litter, without/with litter addition; Low-N/Nor-N, low/normal nutrient conditions. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments (n = 11, p < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Biomass and its allocation of Solidago canadensis under different conditions (mean ± SD). AMF, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; -AMF/+AMF, without/with AMF addition; -Litter/+Litter, without/with litter addition; Low-N/Nor-N, low/normal nutrient conditions. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments (n = 11, p < 0.05).

Table 1 Three-way ANOVA and simple effect analysis (Partial η2) on the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and litter on the biomass of Solidago canadensis under different nutrient conditions

变异来源 Source of variation	自由度 df	地上生物量 Above-ground biomass			地下生物量 Below-ground biomass			总生物量 Total biomass
变异来源 Source of variation		F	p	Partial η²	F	p	Partial η²	F	p	Partial η²
丛枝菌根真菌 AMF	1	37.78	<0.001	0.486	4.98	0.031	0.111	17.78	<0.001	0.308
凋落物 Litter	1	53.49	<0.001	0.572	3.45	0.071	0.079	27.95	<0.001	0.411
营养条件 Nutrient	1	286.70	<0.001	0.878	31.40	<0.001	0.440	242.54	<0.001	0.858
AMF ×凋落物 AMF × litter	1	1.14	0.291	0.028	0.47	0.498	0.012	1.20	0.280	0.029
AMF ×营养条件 AMF × nutrient	1	5.50	0.024	0.121	1.70	0.200	0.041	5.45	0.025	0.120
凋落物×营养条件 litter × nutrient	1	5.89	0.020	0.128	0.06	0.808	0.001	4.18	0.048	0.095
AMF ×凋落物×营养条件 AMF × litter × nutrient	1	1.69	0.201	0.041	0.99	0.326	0.024	0.51	0.478	0.013

Fig. 6 Relative Interaction Intensity (RII) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (A) and Litter (B) on the biomass of Solidago canadensis under different conditions (mean ± SD). -AMF/+AMF, without/with AMF addition; -Litter/+Litter, without/with litter addition; Low-N/Nor-N, low/normal nutrient conditions. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (n = 11, p < 0.05).

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