Predicting how biological communities assemble in restored ecosystems can assist in conservation efforts, but most research has focused on plants, with relatively little attention paid to soil microbial organisms that plants interact with. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are an ecologically significant functional group of soil microbes that form mutualistic symbioses with plants and could therefore respond positively to plant community restoration. To evaluate the effects of plant community restoration on AM fungi, we compared AM fungal abundance, species richness, and community composition of five annually cultivated, conventionally managed agricultural fields with paired adjacent retired agricultural fields that had undergone prairie restoration 5–9 years prior to sampling. We hypothesized that restoration stimulates AM fungal abundance and species richness, particularly for disturbance‐sensitive taxa, and that gains of new taxa would not displace AM fungal species present prior to restoration due to legacy effects. AM fungal abundance was quantified by measuring soil spore density and root colonization. AM fungal species richness and community composition were determined in soils and plant roots using DNA high‐throughput sequencing. Soil spore density was 2.3 times higher in restored prairies compared to agricultural fields, but AM fungal root colonization did not differ between land use types. AM fungal species richness was 2.7 and 1.4 times higher in restored prairies versus agricultural fields for soil and roots, respectively. The abundance of Glomeraceae, a disturbance‐tolerant family, decreased by 25% from agricultural to restored prairie soils but did not differ in plant roots. The abundance of Claroideoglomeraceae and Diversisporaceae, both disturbance‐sensitive families, was 4.6 and 3.2 times higher in restored prairie versus agricultural soils, respectively. Species turnover was higher than expected relative to a null model, indicating that AM fungal species were gained by replacement. Our findings demonstrate that restoration can promote a relatively rapid increase in the abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities that had been degraded by decades of intensive land use, and community compositional change can be predicted by the disturbance tolerance of soil microbial taxonomic and functional groups.

中文翻译：

---

草原恢复促进共生丛枝菌根真菌的丰度和多样性


预测生物群落如何在恢复的生态系统中聚集可以帮助保护工作，但大多数研究都集中在植物上，而很少关注与植物相互作用的土壤微生物。丛枝菌根（AM）真菌是具有重要生态意义的土壤微生物功能群，它们与植物形成互利共生，因此可以对植物群落的恢复做出积极的反应。为了评估植物群落恢复对 AM 真菌的影响，我们比较了 5 个每年耕种、常规管理的农田和 5-9 年前进行过草原恢复的相邻退休农田的 AM 真菌丰度、物种丰富度和群落组成。采样。我们假设恢复会刺激 AM 真菌丰度和物种丰富度，特别是对于干扰敏感的类群，并且由于遗留影响，新类群的增加不会取代恢复前存在的 AM 真菌物种。 AM 真菌丰度通过测量土壤孢子密度和根部定殖来量化。使用 DNA 高通量测序测定土壤和植物根部中的 AM 真菌物种丰富度和群落组成。与农田相比，恢复草原的土壤孢子密度高 2.3 倍，但 AM 真菌根部定殖在土地利用类型之间没有差异。恢复草原的土壤和根系 AM 真菌物种丰富度分别是农田的 2.7 倍和 1.4 倍。从农业土壤到恢复的草原土壤，耐干扰科的球囊科 (Glomeraceae) 的丰度下降了 25%，但植物根部没有差异。 Claroideoglomeraceae 和 Diversisporaceae 都是对干扰敏感的科，恢复后的草原土壤中的丰度分别是农业土壤的 4.6 倍和 3.2 倍。相对于空模型，物种周转率高于预期，表明 AM 真菌物种是通过替换获得的。我们的研究结果表明，恢复可以促进因数十年土地集约利用而退化的土壤微生物群落的丰度和多样性相对快速增加，并且可以通过土壤微生物分类和功能群的干扰耐受性来预测群落组成的变化。