Environmental drivers for cheaters of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in tropical rainforests

Hundreds of nonphotosynthetic mycoheterotrophic plant species cheat the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Their patchy local occurrence suggests constraints by biotic and abiotic factors, among which the role of soil chemistry and nutrient status has not been investigated. Here, we examine the edaphic drivers predicting the local‐scale distribution of mycoheterotrophic plants in two lowland rainforests in South America. We compared soil chemistry and nutrient status in plots where mycoheterotrophic plants were present with those without these plants. Soil pH, soil nitrate, and the interaction between soil potassium and nitrate concentrations were the best predictors for the occurrence of mycoheterotrophic plants in these tropical rainforests. Mycoheterotrophic plant occurrences decreased with a rise in each of these predictors. This indicates that these plants are associated with low‐fertility patches. Such low‐fertility conditions coincide with conditions that potentially favour a weak mutualism between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi according to the trade balance model. Our study points out which soil properties favour the cheating of arbuscular mycorrhizal networks in tropical forests. The patchy occurrence of mycoheterotrophic plants suggests that local soil heterogeneity causes the stability of arbuscular mycorrhizal networks to vary at a very small scale.