Phosphorus Affects Nutrient Uptake in Leymus Chinensis by Altering the Coexistence Relationships of AMF Communities

Abstract Aims Exploring the coexistence between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities and plants is crucial for plant nutrient acquisition and growth, particularly under exogenous phosphorus input. Methods This 3-year field trial tested the effects of phosphorus (P) application rates (0, 15.3, 30.6 and 45.9 kg P ha− 1) on the nutrient uptake of Leymus chinensis and AMF communities assembly in pasture in arid zone. Results The results showed that P fertilization had a significant impact on the richness of AMF species (ACE) and that pH was a major factor affecting the AMF community. P fertilization increased the positive edge ratio, average path length, centralization betweenness, centralization closeness, relative modularity (RM), fragility, and natural connectivity of the network in the co-occurring network, whereas high P promoted the stability of the network (robustness and fragility). Available potassium (AK), total P (TP), and some enzyme activities have important effects on the topological properties of co-occurring networks. When the changes in the number of nodes, edges and correlations of the co-occurrence network indicated that the coexistence of AMF community was altered, whereas the phosphorus content of the roots and nitrogen content of the leaves of the Leymus chinensis were significantly related to the attribute metrics representing the coexistence of the different species of the AMF community Conclusions These study further elucidated the mechanism by which P changes the coexistence relationships of AMF communities and revealed the mechanisms by which this coexistence affects plant nutrient uptake.