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Latebreaking Poster

Session: Mycorrhizae (Latebreaking)

LB 30-256 - Effect of rooting substrate on tropical liana endophyte communities

Thursday, August 10, 2023
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
Location: ESA Exhibit Hall
Lianas play a major role in forest function through ecosystem connectivity, dispersal, and structures. As lianas increase in dominance, they suppress tree growth, increase tree fall, dominate the canopy, and reduce forest productivity. Lianas outcompete trees both above and below ground, having root traits for better resource acquisition and mutualistic endophytes. Fungal mutualists (AMF and DSE) play a vital role in nutrient uptake, stress tolerance, and chemical response that could give lianas a further edge in tropical forest ecosystems. How do lianas utilize their adventitious roots and how do their fungal communities change? I hypothesized that AMF and DSE would colonize liana roots by substrate type due to innate nutrient and stress differences by substrate. In this study, I analyzed liana roots from substrates (water, air, soil) within 5 plots in 5 rivers along Pipeline Road in Soberania National Park, Panama. Community samples of lianas for each root type were collected at each plot. Through root staining and microscopic quantification, I found AMF and DSE colonize liana roots inversely across substrates: air and water showed higher DSE while soil showed higher AMF. Liana roots were also colonized at different rates by AMF and DSE depending on substrate. AMF had a highly significant difference in colonization by substrate (soil >air >water) and DSE showed a significant difference by substrate (soil/air >water). These results can be understood through nutrient level by substrate, endophyte interactions, and environmental stressors. My hypothesis that endophyte colonization depends on substrate and the prediction that soil roots would have the highest endophyte colonization is supported by these results. These results provide clarity to tropical liana ecology and call for more research in the field of microbial ecology to better understand liana competition and dominance in the face of climate change.