Resource limitation is a driver of local adaptation in mycorrhizal symbioses

Symbioses may be important mechanisms of plant adaptation to their environment. We conducted a reciprocal inoculation experiment to test the hypothesis that soil fertility is a key driver of local adaptation in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbioses. Ecotypes of Andropogon gerardii from phosphorus-limited and nitrogen-limited grasslands were grown with all possible "home and away" combinations of soils and AM fungal communities. Our results indicate that Andropogon ecotypes adapt to their local soil and indigenous AM fungal communities such that mycorrhizal exchange of the most limiting resource is maximized. Grasses grown in home soil and inoculated with home AM fungi produced more arbuscules (symbiotic…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 9632851, 0842327, DEB-0842327, DE-AC02-06CH11357
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC02-06CH11357, contract DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02-
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357
• BA
  Biological and Environmental Research

  Award: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• AN
  Argonne National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357