Mosaics of forest and open shrubby-grasslands (campos) are frequent in the PECJ. These campos are best considered as alternative stable states to forest vegetation and have over the last 60 years been affected by the invasion of exotic Pinus species, dispersing from plantations and changing soil properties and biogeochemical cycles. As EM fungi contrary to AM fungi can degrade SOM and take up organic N and P, potentially outcompeting/slowing decomposition by saprobic fungi, we hypothesise that the conversion of ecosystems dominated by AM to EM will alter C and N cycling, as predicted by the slow decay hypothesis, enhancing soil C storage and reducing the availability of inorganic N. Within the response-and-effect trait framework we shall identify microbial community traits that determine the effect of the co-invasion of pine and ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbionts on C, N and P in campos dominated by arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM). If the nature of the invasive pines in the landscape permit, the interaction of invasion x topography relationships will be evaluated.
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