Structure and diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungal communities across spatial and environmental gradients in the Chaco forest of South America

Abstract

The Chaco forest is one of the most diverse ecosystems in South America andharbors different vegetation units with high levels of biodiversity. However, theinformation about how belowground communities are spatially structured acrossvegetation units in the Chaco forest is scarce. We aimed to analyze the variation oftaxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and structure of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungalcommunities across different vegetation units of the Chaco forest. Arbuscularmycorrhizal fungi (AMF) richness showed significant differences between vegetationunits. The AMF community composition was being significantly structured bygeographic variables (i.e. wider scale), environmental variables (i.e. altitude,temperature and precipitation) and edaphic (i.e. pH and Nitrogen). In addition, the AMFcommunities in Chaco forest might be phylogenetically clustered compared to local(Córdoba Province), regional (South America) and global species pool. In general, avariation of AMF communities in the Chaco forest might be determined by the spatialconfiguration and environmental conditions.