Work

Inoculation with native, late‐successional arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improves the growth and establishment of desirable forbs in low‐quality prairie restoration

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: PREMISE: Tallgrass prairies are important yet endangered ecosystems of central North America and subjects of many ecological restoration projects. Prairie restorations commonly succeed in establishing native grasses but can stagnate in the early stages of succession with limited diversity and composition of native forbs. Establishment of desirable forbs introduced into grass-dominated restorations can be difficult because of intense competition. Late-successional arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi cultured from undisturbed, remnant prairies have been shown to improve restoration outcomes, with most previous tests introducing AM fungi during initial establishment of prairie restoration in post-agricultural fields. Much less research has been performed on the benefits of AM fungi in older restorations. METHODS: In this experiment, we determined whether inoculation with native AM fungi would improve the establishment of 12 native prairie forb species in a decades-old, restored prairie dominated by native grasses. We followed the survival and growth of uninoculated and AM fungi-inoculated plants over two growing seasons. RESULTS: We found that most species, including high-conservation-value species such as purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) and lead plant (Amorpha canescens) benefited in terms of increased survival and/or growth. CONCLUSIONS: By showing that inoculation with native, late successional AM fungi improved establishment of desirable native plants even in a decades-old restored prairie, this study adds to confidence in the benefits of native AM fungi to prairie restoration in general, and specifically demonstrates the potential value of native AM fungi to efforts to enrich existing grass-dominated restored prairies with high conservation value plant species.

Source: American Journal of Botany

DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.70114

Authors: Reb L. Bryant, James D. Bever

Institution: University of Kansas

Language: English

Topic: Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture