For arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in wheat roots and wheat performance in a temperate agricultural setting, distance to semi-natural habitats is important.

Abstract

There will inevitably be biological, chemical, and physical interactions between semi-natural habitats and agricultural fields in an agricultural landscape. In agricultural regions, fungi may both positively and adversely impact crop development. Thus, in this field investigation, we examined winter wheat performance in relation to semi-natural settings as well as the colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and non-AM fungi in winter wheat roots. We took samples in agricultural transition zones, or 50-meter transects from semi-natural habitats like hedgerows and glacially formed in-field ponds—also known as "kettle holes"—into agricultural fields in an intensively managed agricultural environment in northeastern Germany. To the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate for the first time that, whereas non-AM fungal root colonization remained constant, AM fungal colonization in winter wheat roots declined linearly with increasing distance to semi-natural environments. Grain production and biomass of winter wheat rose marginally as the distance to hedgerows increased, but not to kettle holes. This demonstrates unequivocally that various crop performance metrics vary from one another. The specific significance of distance to semi-natural environments for AM fungal root colonization and winter wheat grain production was validated using random forest machine learning techniques. This trend may be partially explained by less intense agricultural management near semi-natural environments, such as the absence of pesticide and herbicide treatments due to nature preservation laws. However, AM fungi's spatial response patterns in wheat roots—but not those of non-AM fungi—also suggest altered ecological interactions in semi-natural environments. In agricultural landscapes, semi-natural and natural habitats are becoming acknowledged as being crucial for both sustainable crop production and biodiversity conservation. They may also be a tool for policymakers and farmers to enhance sustainable landscape management. Furthermore, agricultural transition zones are dynamic, geographically and temporally diverse ecosystems that need further research.