Japan — Forest symbioses are shifting with warming and tree disease
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Across more than 13,000 forest plots, arbuscular-mycorrhizal tree dominance increased significantly over roughly 15 years and was associated with climate warming and tree diseases. Higher AM dominance was negatively related to the soil carbon-to-nitrogen stock ratio.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Forest change can reorganize belowground symbioses and nutrient cycling before those changes are obvious in simple canopy-cover metrics. Pest and disease dynamics may therefore alter biogeochemistry at broad scales.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
The observational design establishes broad associations rather than proving a single causal pathway from warming or disease to symbiosis shifts. Soil consequences will vary with species composition and site conditions.
SOURCE
Nature Communications · Original evidence
View original evidence ↗
More than 13,000 plots show increasing dominance of arbuscular-mycorrhizal trees, with potential consequences for soil nitrogen retention.
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