Underground Explorers

Biological invasions pose a critical threat to global biodiversity, yet the below-ground microbial mechanisms driving their success remain poorly understood. While Lantana camara has devastated 40% of India's tiger habitats, its co-introduced congeners (L. indica, L. veronicifolia) remain non-invasive. This project maps under-explored arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities across a wide latitudinal range spanning three critical Indian ecoregions: the Western Ghats, Upper Gangetic Plain, and Himalayan foothills. Using a dual-approach field survey and full-factorial microcosm experiment, we test if L. camara facilitates its dominance by selectively recruiting high-efficiency, low-diversity AMF communities to hijack indigenous underground networks. Soil and root AMF lineages will be characterized via 18S rDNA metabarcoding (NS31-AML2) on the Illumina MiSeq platform. This research identifies key microbial biomarkers of plant invasion, providing actionable data for the Global Mycorrhizal Atlas and informing fungal-aware forest restoration protocols.