Recent Trend: Is the Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Plant-Enemies Performance Biased by Taxon Usage?

The potential for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi to confer resistance and provide bioprotection against plant pests and pathogens is intriguing to biologists studying at many levels of biological organization, including the organismal, population, and community levels. In recent years, there has been a growing trend to experimentally test the role of AM-fungi in plant-enemy performance. Yet, it remains unclear whether taxon usage in these studies are biasing the results. Here I conducted a survey, while strictly focusing on the effect of AM-fungi, with respect to plant-enemies performance. I found 25% of case studies did not observe a reduction in performance. Interestingly, 75% of studies featured a single AM-fungal taxon, as opposed to multiple taxa. What is even more compelling, 72% of studies featured Rhizophagus irregularis and Funnelformis mosseae. These findings demonstrate a lack of AM-fungal diversity in this area of research and a need for expansion in mycorrhizal taxon usage, to understand more fully the significance of mycorrhizal application in conferring bioprotection.