Slope aspect influences arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus communities in arid ecosystems of the Daqingshan Mountains, Inner Mongolia, North China.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis plays an important role in ecosystem functioning, particularly in fragile environments. Little is known, however, about how AM fungus community composition responds to slope aspect. Our objective was to compare the AM fungus communities between sunny and shady slopes and to detect factors that influenced the distributions of AM fungi in arid ecosystems of the Daqingshan Mountains, Inner Mongolia, North China. AM fungus communities were evaluated based on small subunit ribosomal RNA genes (SSUs) using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. AM fungus community composition differed significantly between slope aspects, and sunny slopes had significantly higher AM fungus diversity and richness as well as spore density, total root colonization, arbuscule abundance, vesicle abundance, and hyphal colonization than shady slopes. Structural equation modeling (SEM) illustrated that the effects of slope aspect on AM fungus richness likely were mediated by available phosphorus, soil organic carbon, plant cover, and plant diversity. Available phosphorus was the principal factor that influenced AM fungus species richness, and soil organic carbon was the principal factor influencing spore density and total root colonization, suggesting that these factors especially might be responsible for differences between the AM fungus communities of different slope aspects. These findings elucidate the influence of slope aspect on AM fungus communities and may inform use of AM fungi in protection and restoration of vegetation with different slope aspects in arid ecosystems.