Is plant community mycorrhization decreasing along a gradient of anthropogenic pressure?

Anthropogenic influence has long been recognized as the main cause of biodiversity loss, thus contributing to ecosystem degradation. At the same time, mycorrhizal symbiosis plays a crucial role in multiple ecosystem services and often favours plant diversity. Although it is known that some human impact can decrease mycorrhization at plant individual level, it has not yet been tested how increasing anthropogenic influence translates into changes in plant community mycorrhization at larger scales. In this study, we ask how the anthropogenic impact is related to plant community mycorrhization at a regional scale. To do this, we quantified the overall prevalence of mycorrhizal symbiosis and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in 158 (semi)terrestrial habitat types
in the Netherlands, using the Dutch National Vegetation database - the largest regional vegetation database available. The prevalence of mycorrhizal symbiosis in these habitats was quantified by plant community mycorrhization index using plant mycorrhizal status data. We found that the overall prevalence of mycorrhizal symbiosis is not affected my anthropogenic influence, whereas the prevalence of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis increases with increasing human impact in wetlands and woodlands, indicating the vulnerability of these habitats to anthropogenic impact.