Presenter(s): Justin Day—Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): Ashley Shaw, Lauren Hallett
Session 6: The Earth, Sky & Everything In Between
In California, the application of compost has been proposed as a management strategy to increase forage production and soil carbon sequestration in semi-arid rangelands . However, given this ecosystem’s highly variable climate, having a holistic knowledge of the impacts of composting practices is imperative for sustainable management . Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are known to confer many benefits to their vascular plants symbiotes—namely through nutrient acquisition— and have been proposed to be important to manage in agricultural systems . The body of knowledge surrounding the influence of compost and rainfall variability on AMF, however, is very limited . The purpose of this study is to explore the AMF-plant relationship with the application of fertilizer or compost across a precipitation gradient . Our results show that AMF colonization under compost treatment alone was not affected, but in combination with high precipitation, AMF colonization was significantly depressed when compared to the ambient precipitation . Additionally, AMF colonization negatively correlates with plant root biomass under the same conditions, suggesting that plant hosts reduce C delivery to AMF under low stress and high resource conditions .