Differential response of δ13C and water use efficiency to arbuscular mycorrhizal infection in two aridland woody plant species

During a revegetation field experiment in Southeast Spain, we measured foliar carbon isotope ratios (delta(13)C) and gas exchange parameters in order to evaluate the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection on the water use efficiency (WUE) of two semiarid woodland species. WUE during drought was significantly enhanced by inoculation with Glomus intraradices in Olea europaea ssp sylvestris, but not in Rhamnus lycioides. While Olea is a long-lived, slow-growing evergreen tree with a conservative water use strategy, Rhamnus is a drought-deciduous shrub with a shorter lifespan; these differences may explain their dissimilar patterns of physiological response to inoculation with the same AM fungus. Differences in delta(13)C and WUE between Olea and Rhamnus were larger when comparing AM inoculated than non-inoculated seedlings. This result suggests that some of the interspecific variability in delta(13)C observed for aridland plant communities may be due to different physiological responses to mycorrhization.