AUTHOR=Hazard Christina , Kruitbos Laura , Davidson Hazel , Mbow Fatou T. , Taylor Andy F. S. , Johnson David TITLE=Strain Identity of the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Laccaria bicolor Is More Important than Richness in Regulating Plant and Fungal Performance under Nutrient Rich Conditions JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01874 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.01874 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Effects of biodiversity on productivity are more likely to be expressed when there is greater potential for niche complementarity. In soil, chemically complex pools of nutrient resources should provide more opportunities for niche complementarity than chemically simple pools. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal genotypes can exhibit substantial variation in nutrient acquisition traits and are key components of soil biodiversity. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increasing the chemical complexity and forms of soil nutrients would enhance the effects of intraspecific ECM diversity on host plant and fungal productivity. In pure culture, we found substantial variation in growth of strains of the ECM fungus