Road Disturbance Shifts Root Fungal Symbiont Types and Reduces the Connectivity of Plant‐Fungal Co‐Occurrence Networks in Mountains
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Roads are currently one of the most disruptive anthropogenic disturbances to mountain ecosystems worldwide. These disturbances can have a profound effect on roadside soil properties and vegetation, typically favouring fast-growing and ruderal species. However, their effect on plant-associated fungal communities and plant-fungal interactions remains largely unknown. In this study, we examined the changes in root-associated fungal communities as well as plant-fungal and fungal-fungal co-occurrence networks along mountain roads from four biogeographical regions. We found that roadsides consistently altered plant and fungal community composition, generally favouring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and putative plant pathogens at the expense of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Moreover, roadsides consistently reduced the complexity of plant-fungal and fungal-fungal co-occurrence networks (with 66%-95% and 40%-94% reduction in total edge density, respectively), even though the richness of fungal communities was not reduced and many of the naturally occurring highly connected taxa were still present. Our findings suggest that altered and transient conditions in the roadsides may favour more generalist symbionts like AMF and pathogens with low fidelity for particular hosts as opposed to surrounding natural vegetation which is dominated by symbionts with higher specificity for the host (like ectomycorrhizal fungi). We conclude that road disturbance may have a consistent negative imprint on connectivity between plants and fungi; a consequence that deserves attention as it could render mountain roadside systems unstable and vulnerable to further pressures such as climate change and invasive species.
Source: Molecular Ecology
DOI: 10.1111/mec.17771
Institutions: University of Antwerp, University of Concepción, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Centro Científico Tecnológico - Mendoza, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Houston, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Utrecht University
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, Biodiversa+, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Akademie Věd České Republiky, Vlaamse regering, Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
Awards: G1061035602, G1701487381, G211635838, INSTITUTO DE ECOLOGIA Y BIODIVERSIDAD (IEB), G256583621, G264340185, G2977974405, G3148279396, G33836862, Assessing the effects of biological Invasions and Climate change on Shifts in species distributions in cold environments, Advancing predictions of Species Distribution Models by incorporating local-scale abiotic and biotic drivers., G379648710, ASsessing and mitigating the effects of climate change and biological Invasions on the spatial redistribution of biodiversity in Cold environmentS, IMPACTS OF PLANT INVASIONS ON THE TAXONOMIC PHYLOGENETIC AND FUNCTIONAL HOMOGENIZATION OF MOUNTAIN ECOSYSTEMS ACROSS A BROAD LATITUDINAL GRADIENT., G4565661763, G4617990, G5632166549, G6063835160, FZT 118: Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung (iDiv), G6181245332, G620873608, The potential for upward range expansion of alien plant species in cold-climate mountains in a warming world, G7647931553, G7926291952, EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCES ON THE REDISTRIBUTION OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE PLANTS ACROSS ALTITUDINAL AND LATITUDINAL GRADIENTS IN THE CHILEAN ANDES., G8663450563, G9000367972
OpenAlex ID: W4409806340