AimMycorrhizal fungi play key roles in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The main types of mycorrhizal associations are arbuscular mycorrhizae, ectomycorrhizae, ericoid mycorrhizae and orchid mycorrhizae. Previous studies have shown that the abundance of plants with different types of mycorrhizal associations change gradually along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients driven by the effects of climate and soil nutrients. We aimed to understand how altitude and climatic and soil variables shape the distribution patterns of tropical plant mycorrhizal types and nitrogen‐fixing plants along altitudinal gradients in the Andes.LocationColombian Andean mountain range.Time PeriodPresent day.Major Taxa StudiedPlants (vascular and non‐vascular).MethodsWe used a herbarium plant records database and assigned mycorrhizal type to each plant species based on the available literature. Bioclimatic and soil variables were also compiled at a resolution of 10 km. We calculated the proportion of each mycorrhizal association type per grid cell and created a diversity index to explore their spatial distribution and association with abiotic factors based on LMs.ResultsThe diversity of mycorrhizal associations increased with altitude and peaked around 3000 m, in an ecotone belt known as the subpáramo recognised by the high abundance of Ericaceae species. Soil carbon stock and soil total nitrogen were also positively correlated with the diversity of mycorrhizal types. Moreover, the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal plants was highest at low elevations and increased with the proportion of nitrogen‐fixing plants per cell.Main ConclusionsOur results indicate that mycorrhizal associations gradually change along altitudinal gradients in the tropical Andes. Climatic factors and the interactions between climatic and edaphic factors have the greatest explanatory power to predict the distribution of types of mycorrhizal associations along the altitudinal gradient. Based on these results we expect that climate change could potentially alter the distribution of mycorrhizal types in tropical mountains with unknown consequences for ecosystem functions.

中文翻译：

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热带安第斯山脉沿海拔梯度的菌根类型的多样性


目的菌根真菌在陆地生态系统的功能中起着关键作用。菌根关联的主要类型是丛枝菌根、外生菌根、外生菌根、外生菌根和兰花菌根。以前的研究表明，在气候和土壤养分的影响下，具有不同类型菌根关联的植物的丰度沿纬度和海拔梯度逐渐变化。我们旨在了解海拔高度、气候和土壤变量如何塑造热带植物菌根类型和固氮植物沿安第斯山脉海拔梯度的分布模式。时间段今天。主要分类群研究植物（维管和非维管）。方法我们使用植物标本馆植物记录数据库，并根据现有文献为每个植物物种分配菌根类型。生物气候和土壤变量也以 10 公里的分辨率进行编译。我们计算了每个网格单元中每种菌根关联类型的比例，并创建了一个多样性指数，以探索它们的空间分布和基于 LMs 的非生物因子的关联.结果菌根关联的多样性随着海拔的增加而增加，并在 3000 m 左右达到峰值，在一个被称为 subpáramo 的生态带中，以杜鹃花科物种的高丰度为标志。土壤碳储量和土壤全氮也与菌根类型的多样性呈正相关。此外，丛枝菌根植物的丰度在低海拔地区最高，并且随着每个细胞固氮植物的比例增加而增加。主要结论我们的结果表明，在热带安第斯山脉，菌根关联沿海拔梯度逐渐变化。 气候因素以及气候因素和 edaphic 因素之间的交互作用对预测菌根关联类型沿海拔梯度的分布具有最大的解释力。基于这些结果，我们预计气候变化可能会改变热带山区菌根类型的分布，对生态系统功能的影响未知。