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Dominance, diversity, and niche breadth in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Dominance, diversity, and niche breadth in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities

J. Davison, M. Vasar, S‐K Sepp, J. Oja, S. Al‐Quraishy, C.G. Bueno, J.J. Cantero, E. Chimbioputo Fabiano, G. Decocq, L. Fraser, …
Ecology, Vol.103(9), e3761
2022
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Abstract

Classical theory identifies resource competition as the major structuring force of biotic communities and predicts that (i) levels of dominance and richness in communities are inversely related, (ii) narrow niches allow dense “packing” in niche space and thus promote diversity, and (iii) dominants are generalists with wide niches, such that locally abundant taxa also exhibit wide distributions. Current empirical support, however, is mixed. We tested these expectations using published data on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal community composition worldwide. We recorded the expected negative relationship between dominance and richness and, to a degree, the positive association between local and global dominance. However, contrary to expectations, dominance was pronounced in communities where more specialists were present and, conversely, richness was higher in communities with more generalists. Thus, resource competition and niche packing appear to be of limited importance in AM fungal community assembly; rather, patterns of dominance and diversity seem more consistent with habitat filtering and stochastic processes.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#2 Zero Hunger
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

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InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.97 Plant Pathology
3.97.488 Mycorrhizal Symbiosis
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
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