@article{bb7223a6f92e4550822a739372d732db,
title = "Lost in diversity: the interactions between soil-borne fungi, biodiversity and plant productivity",
abstract = "There is consensus that plant species richness enhances plant productivity within natural grasslands, but the underlying drivers remain debated. Recently, differential accumulation of soil-borne fungal pathogens across the plant diversity gradient has been proposed as a cause of this pattern. However, the below-ground environment has generally been treated as a 'black box' in biodiversity experiments, leaving these fungi unidentified. Using next generation sequencing and pathogenicity assays, we analysed the community composition of root-associated fungi from a biodiversity experiment to examine if evidence exists for host specificity and negative density dependence in the interplay between soil-borne fungi, plant diversity and productivity. Plant species were colonised by distinct (pathogenic) fungal communities and isolated fungal species showed negative, species-specific effects on plant growth. Moreover, 57% of the pathogenic fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) recorded in plant monocultures were not detected in eight plant species plots, suggesting a loss of pathogenic OTUs with plant diversity. Our work provides strong evidence for host specificity and negative density-dependent effects of root-associated fungi on plant species in grasslands. Our work substantiates the hypothesis that fungal root pathogens are an important driver of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.",
author = "L. Mommer and Anne Cotton and J.M. Raaijmakers and A.J. Termorshuizen and {van Ruijven}, J. and Marloes Hendriks and {van Rijssel}, Sophie and {van de Mortel}, J.E. and {van der Paauw}, J.W.M. and E.G.W.M. Schijlen and Annemiek Smit-Tiekstra and F. Berendse and {de Kroon}, Hans and A.J. Dumbrell",
year = "2018",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1111/nph.15036",
language = "English",
volume = "218",
pages = "542--553",
journal = "New Phytologist",
issn = "0028-646X",
publisher = "Wiley",
number = "2",
}