Background:

Morpho-physiological compensations and microbial associations in plants regulate the use of limiting resources and the assemblage of plant communities.

Question:

What is the relationship between arbuscular mycorrhization and bacterial nodulation with the growth and biomass allocation of eight species of Mimosa?

Species study:

Mimosa adenantheroides, M. biuncifera, M. calcicola, M. lacerata, M. luisana, M. polyantha, M. purpusii and M. texana var. filipes

Study site and date:

Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, Puebla-Oaxaca, Mexico, 2013 and 2014.

Methods:

Plants were grown under two treatments: i) With soil inoculum with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and N2-fixing bacteria (NFB) from Mimosa resource islands (RI), and ii) Control (without AMF neither NFB inoculum), with nine replicates per species/treatment; plant growth, arbuscular mycorrhization, and root nodulation were evaluated.

Results:

Mimosa species growing without AMF neither NFB (control) vary in growth and biomass allocation, and were grouped into three morphological designs: i) M. calcicola and M. lacerata; ii) M. adenantheroides, M. luisana and M. polyantha; and iii) M. biuncifera, M. purpusii and M. texana var. filipes. Also, the eight Mimosa species formed a fourth design, when they grew inoculum of soil with AMF and NFB, which favored their growth and modified their biomass allocation patterns.

Conclusions:

This study contributes to delineate possible functional groups in Mimosa, but other functional traits should be evaluated in order to select species with potential for environmental restoration and to understand the assemblage of plant communities.

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