phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:5457 DOI 10.1111/nph.70969 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal families and exploration‐based guilds exhibit distinct responses to long‐term N, P and K deficiencies and imbalances Many agroecosystems face nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) or potassium (K) deficiencies due to imbalanced or insufficient nutrient replenishment after biomass harvest. How this affects the symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the abundance of exploration-based AMF guilds (rhizophilic, edaphophilic and ancestral) remains largely unknown. We studied a 70-yr nutrient deficiency experiment in a managed grassland in central Austria, where aboveground biomass was harvested three times annually. N, P and K were fully, partially or not replenished, causing long-term nutrient deficiencies and imbalances. We analysed AMF communities in soil and roots by DNA/RNA amplicon sequencing and fatty acid biomarkers, alongside soil and plant community properties. Soil AMF communities were affected by N and P deficiencies, while root AMF communities were most susceptible to K deficiency, showing up to 50% biomass reduction, particularly when N was abundant. We observed a shift from rhizophilic to ancestral guilds under P deficiency in soil, and under K deficiency in roots. Families within each guild, particularly ancestral, showed differential responses, indicating complementary nutrient specializations at the family level. Our findings underscore the previously unrecognized role of K deficiency in AMF symbiosis and suggest the existence of nutrient-related functional subgroups within exploration-based AMF guilds. eng Keywords AMF abundance and community composition ancestral arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi edaphophilic exploration-based functional guild long-term nutrient deficiencies and imbalances managed grassland rhizophilic 2026-08-25T08:39:57.570Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Jenab;Kian; FN:Kian Jenab X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1323-7827 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Alteio;Lauren; FN:Lauren Alteio X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9108-5083 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Guseva;Ksenia; FN:Ksenia Guseva X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5139-7138 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Gorka;Stefan; FN:Stefan Gorka X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2046-7567 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Darcy;Sean; FN:Sean Darcy X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5967-3742 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Fuchslueger;Lucia; FN:Lucia Fuchslueger X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9615-4439 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Canarini;Alberto; FN:Alberto Canarini X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2516-5955 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Martin;Victoria; FN:Victoria Martin X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7473-1039 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Wiesenbauer;Julia; FN:Julia Wiesenbauer X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9237-6802 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Spiegel;Felix; FN:Felix Spiegel X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0691-7656 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Imai;Bruna; FN:Bruna Imai END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Schmidt;Hannes; FN:Hannes Schmidt X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4288-4257 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Hage‐Ahmed;Karin; FN:Karin Hage‐Ahmed X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7711-8101 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Pötsch;Erich M.; FN:Erich M. Pötsch X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0564-8135 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Richter;Andreas; FN:Andreas Richter X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3282-4808 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Jansa;Jan; FN:Jan Jansa X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0331-1774 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Kaiser;Christina; FN:Christina Kaiser X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2005-1820 END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 2946075 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5457 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:5457/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline