Benefits of symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi to plant water relations depend on plant genotype in pinyon pine.

Rhizosphere microbes, such as root-associated fungi, can improve plant access to soil resources, affecting plant health, productivity, and stress tolerance. While mycorrhizal associations are ubiquitous, plant-microbe interactions can be species specific. Here we show that the specificity of the effects of microbial symbionts on plant function can go beyond species level: colonization of roots by ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) of the genus Geopora has opposite effects on water uptake, and stomatal control of desiccation in drought tolerant and intolerant genotypes of pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm.

Ectomycorrhizal and Dark Septate Fungal Associations of Pinyon Pine Are Differentially Affected by Experimental Drought and Warming.

Changing climates can cause shifts in temperature and precipitation, resulting in warming and drought in some regions. Although each of these factors has been shown to detrimentally affect forest ecosystems worldwide, information on the impacts of the combined effects of warming and drought is lacking. Forest trees rely on mutualistic root-associated fungi that contribute significantly to plant health and protection against climate stresses.

Common garden experiments disentangle plant genetic and environmental contributions to ectomycorrhizal fungal community structure.

The interactions among climate change, plant genetic variation and fungal mutualists are poorly understood, but probably important to plant survival under drought. We examined these interactions by studying the ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) communities of pinyon pine seedlings (Pinus edulis) planted in a wildland ecosystem experiencing two decades of climate change-related drought. We established a common garden containing P.

Higher Temperature at Lower Elevation Sites Fails to Promote Acclimation or Adaptation to Heat Stress During Pollen Germination.

High temperatures associated with climate change are expected to be detrimental for aspects of plant reproduction, such as pollen viability. We hypothesized that (1) higher peak temperatures predicted with climate change would have a minimal effect on pollen viability, while high temperatures during pollen germination would negatively affect pollen viability, (2) high temperatures during pollen dispersal would facilitate acclimation to high temperatures during pollen germination, and (3) pollen from populations at sites with warmer average temperatures would be better adapted to high temperature peaks. We tested these hypotheses in , a species with demonstrated sensitivity to climate change, using populations along an elevational gradient.