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Recent research suggests arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may play a large role in maintaining desired stable states in rangelands by increasing native plant community resilience to drought, grazing and exotic plant invasion. However, invasive plant species have been shown to alter AMF community composition in ways which may affect their functionality and relationship with native plants. Climate change and the associated droughts, variable annual precipitation, altered fire regimes, and potential for exotic plant invasion has increased the importance of understanding the changes in AMF community structure and subsequent aboveground impacts in rangelands. Lasting soil legacies of negative feedbacks caused by invasive species may decrease the effectiveness of restoration actions at these sites, decreasing seedling establishment, soil moisture potential, and nutrient availability. We reviewed literature revealing the importance of AMF in rangelands, focusing on plant-fungal associations within the sagebrush-steppe community of the Great Basin and Intermountain West, and impacts on native AMF communities including land use, disturbance, and invasive species. We also sampled and analyzed roots of�Pseudoregneria spicata�and�Taeniatherum caput-medusae�within an invasion gradient in eastern Oregon. Our observations offer examples of an AMF colonized keystone bunchgrass competing with an exotic annual grass apparently lacking AMF association. The literature provides evidence that exotic plant invasion impacts on AMF community structure vary with plant species identity, and that effects range in severity from subtle to extreme. We suggest that more integrated and comprehensive studies of community, and individual species functionality within invaded and intact plant communities is needed to identify whether altered AMF communities are benefitting invasive species establishment, and if AMF community restoration is required prior to attempts to restore above ground communities.