SIAM · Sex-Specific Interactions in Arbuscular Mycorrhizas in an Ecological Community Context

Sex-Specific Interactions in Arbuscular Mycorrhizas in an Ecological Community Context

The aim of the project was to explore and understand plant – arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal interactions in a more realistic multi-trophic context, by investigating how sex-specific interactions between AM fungi and sexually dimorphic plants impact plant pollinators and herbivores. Understanding the importance of belowground organisms for plant growth, community dynamics, and ecosystem processes is fundamental. One of the most significant components of belowground biota is the AM fungi growing in symbiosis with roots of most land plants. Since their advent 360 million years ago, AM have been tightly linked to plant life history evolution. The effects of AM fungi on plant fitness have been extensively studied in sexually monomorphic plants, but plant populations with separate sexes are relatively common in nature. Moreover, most available studies on this topic have been exclusively focused on two trophic levels, neglecting the fact that plants live in complex multi-trophic scenarios, where both mutualistic and antagonistic relationships interact both above- and below-ground. Therefore this aimed to explore and understand plant – AM fungal interactions in a more realistic multi-trophic context. Implementation of this project had scientific importance for the improvement of our understanding of complex multi-trophic interactions in plants and has potentially enormous economic significance for agriculture as it includes pollination ecology and herbivory. Besides the scientific importance of the proposed project itself, this project significantly enhanced the applicant’s career by acquiring up-to-date techniques and other significant skills and provided expertise on mycorrhizal fungi research for the host institution. The overall research objectives of this action were: - To demonstrate if plant roots from different sexes are colonised by different AM fungi - To determine the effect of AM fungi on floral traits and attractants to pollinators and herbivores

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