Individual tree genotypes do not explain ectomycorrhizal biodiversity in soil cores of a pure stand of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

Niche differentiation is a common explanation for high ectomycorrhizal diversity. In monocultures and on small spatial scales, the number of variable factors that may provide niches decreases. Still, even in the restricted volume of a soil core, typically more than one ectomycorrhizal species is found. We tested the hypothesis that roots of different individual beech genotypes provide niches on a small spatial scale in a pure beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stand in the North-eastern Lowlands of Germany. Fourteen ectomycorrhizal species, as determined by ITS sequencing and phylograms were patchily distributed along an 81 m long transect with ten transect points. All root segments in the three species richest soil cores and the surrounding beeches were genotyped by microsatellite PCR. In each of the three soil cores, roots of two host genotypes were present that corresponded to the two closest mature trees. We found that the different root genotypes did not carry different sets of ectomycorrhizal species even at the high species resolution provided through our study. Therefore, the hypothesis of tree genotypes contributing to ectomycorrhizal biodiversity at the analyzed beech stand has to be rejected. Exploration types and stochastic processes are discussed as alternative explanations for the species richness and distributions in the analyzed soil cores. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that links ectomycorrhizal biodiversity in a soil core to the individual genotype of an angiosperm host.