Understanding key-bottlenecks during habitat restoration: the interplay between availability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant population genetic diversity.

Increasing land-use intensity across Europe has brought along the loss of many natural habitats and a rapid decrease in biodiversity. There is an urgent need for solutions to alleviate these negative effects, and the restoration of degraded habitats is generally considered to be the key to halting further biodiversity loss. The restoration of self-sustainable plant populations is critical for successful habitat restoration. Two of the most important bottlenecks in this context are (i) the generally low genetic diversity of restored plant populations, and (ii) the lack of suitable soil fungi. First, because plant populations colonizing newly restored habitats are often small and generally originate from few source populations, their population genetic diversity is low, resulting in reduced fitness due to inbreeding and genetic drift. Second, many plant species depend on the presence of beneficial soil fungi, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, which can improve plant nutrition and protection from pathogens. Lack of such fungi in restored habitats can therefore impose a significant hurdle in the process of ecological restoration. However, it is not known so far, how both factors, i.e. plant population genetic diversity and AM fungi, interact with each other, and affect ecological restoration success.In this project, we will combine (i) the expertise in terms of quantifying plant population genetic diversity and population genetics from KU Leuven with (ii) the proficiency in AM fungal ecology from University of Tartu. Firstly, we will produce a structured synthesis regarding the existing evidence in terms of the synergies between host plant population genetic diversity on the one side and AM fungal communities on the other side, and we will produce a novel conceptual framework integrating both aspects in a context of ecological restoration. Secondly, we will establish an experimental field study aiming at disentangling the effects of both plant genetic diversity and AM fungal availability, and their interaction, on plant colonization success. We envisage that this combined theoretical and experimental approach will provide both novel and significant fundamental insights and practical guidelines to successfully restore self-sustainable plant populations. Thirdly, we will use gained knowledge to design and implement highly competitive common research projects tackling grassland restoration.

Keywords:Land use change, Molecular methods, Biodiversity, Plant population genetics, Mycorrhiza (AMF)

Disciplines:Plant ecology