Seedling Establishment Near Large Plants: Effects of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizas on the Intensity of Plant Competition

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Abstract
The effects of mycorrhizas on interactions between seedlings and larger plants were investigated. Two seedlings of Plantago lanceolata L. were grown in a narrow vertical layer of sterilized dune sandy soil, either alone or with older P. lanceolata, and with or without vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza. 32Phosphorus was injected into the sand at a depth reached only by the roots of the large plants. When the test seedlings were 5 weeks old, they had more mycorrhizal infection if grown with mycorrhizal large plants than if they were grown alone. The biomass, nitrogen content, and phosphorus content of the seedlings were all reduced to a similar extent by competition with large plants, regardless of whether they were mycorrhizal or not. The seedlings acquired little 32P, and the evidence indicates the most of the 32P did not reach them from the roots of large plants via hyphal links. Thus, the principal interactions between large plant and seedling were competitive and the competitive balance was not markedly altered by mycorrhizas.

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