Neighbor Influences on Root Morphology and Mycorrhizal Fungus Colonization in Tallgrass Prairie Plants

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Abstract
A field study was conducted across a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie restorations to investigate the influence of plant's neighbor may have on its gross root morphology and association with mycorrhizal fungi. The root systems of a warm—season grass, Andropogon gerardii, and two perennial forbs, Coreopsis tripteris and Solidago altissima, were sampled by excavating soil blocks representing all pairwise inter— and intra—specific combinations of these species. With forb neighbors, Andropogon had higher percentages of its fibrous roots colonized by mycorrhizal fungi than with conspecific neighbors. Andropogon root morphology (as measured by average root radius, specific root length, and root branching) did not vary with neighbor growth form; however, Andropogon roots did become finer as restoration age and root densities increased. For Coreopsis and Solidago, colonization of fibrous roots did not vary with neighbor species, but both forbs had coarser roots with interspecific neighbors than with conspecifics. With interspecific neighbors, Coreopsis almost doubled the number of branches per centimetre of root observed in conspecific pairs. Although some of the variations in colonization and root morphology may be attributable specifically to neighbor root mass, others were related to the overall root mass of the target—neighbor pair. The observed variations in mycorrhizal colonization may be related to increased opportunities for colonization by the fungus that are due not only to higher root densities but also to some sort of interaction between the root systems of Andropogon and the forbs.

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