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Parasitic Fungus Mediates Change in Nitrogen-exposed Boreal Forest Vegetation by Joachim Strengbom; Annika Nordin; Torgny Näsholm; Lars Ericson is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Summary Experimental additions of N to an old‐growth boreal forest resulted in elevated levels of free amino acids in leaves of the dominant dwarf‐shrub __Vaccinium myrtillus__ and increased attack from a parasitic fungus, __Valdensia heterodoxa__. Glutamine additions to the leaf surface of __V. myrtillus__ increased disease incidence by an average of almost three times compared to controls and suggested a causal connection between amino acid availability and fungal infection. Increased abundance of the grass __Deschampsia flexuosa__ followed N addition but infection by the parasitic fungus, which causes premature leaf loss of its primary host __V. myrtillus__, explained four times as much of the variation in grass abundance as N did. Nitrogen deposition can have marked effects on vegetation by affecting the interaction between dominant hosts and their natural enemies. A shift in abundance of dominating species occurred within 3 years of treatment, with nitrogen loads similar to those deposited over large areas in Europe and North America, suggesting that such effects may by important for the vegetation of large areas subjected to low levels of nitrogen input.

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Author

Joachim Strengbom; Annika Nordin; Torgny Näsholm; Lars Ericson

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (Blackwell Publishing); Blackwell Publishing Inc.; Wiley; JSTOR (ISSN 0022-0477)

Published

2002

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)