Ectomycorrhizal fungal assemblages of Abies alba Mill. outside its native range in Poland.

Paweł Strzeliński,Marcin Pietras,Iwona Smutek,Tomasz Leski,Maria Rudawska

doi:10.1007/s00572-015-0646-3

Paweł Strzeliński, Marcin Pietras + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-015-0646-3

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Abstract

Abies alba (Mill.) is an important forest tree species, native to the mountainous regions of Europe but has been also widely introduced in the lowlands outside its native range. Like most forest tree species, A. alba forms obligate mutualisms with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. This investigation sought to examine ECM fungal communities of A. alba when the species grows 400 km north of its native range in the region of Pomerania in Poland. We surveyed for ECM fungi by sampling live roots from four mature forest stands where the A. alba component ranged from 20 to 100 %. Ectomycorrhizal fungal symbionts were identified based on morphotyping and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Thirty-five ECM fungal taxa were distinguished on root tips of A. alba from all tested stands with 22 to 27 ECM fungal taxa in the individual stand. The diversity and similarity metrics revealed a lack of statistical differences in the structure of the ECM fungal community between stands varying in overstory tree composition. Cenococcum geophilum was the most common fungal species at all investigated A. alba stands, with an abundance of 50 to 70 %. The ECM community was characterized by the lack of Abies-specific fungal symbionts and a rich and diverse suite of host-generalist mycobionts that seem to be sufficient for successful growth and development of A. alba outside of its native range.

Highlights

Forest tree species may occur outside their historic natural range in response to climate change and global warming or because humans have deliberately introduced a tree species in a region where the species is very productive
The history of introduction of A. alba in the area of Polish Pomerania dates back to the end of the nineteenth century when experimental stands were established by German and Austrian foresters Schwappach, Wiedemann, and Cieślar (Bellon et al 1977) and exist to the present time. These stands are still growing very well, and several productivity indicators are similar to those obtained for A. alba grown in the native range of this tree species in southern Poland (Bijak 2010)
Like most temperate and boreal tree species, A. alba develops obligate mutualisms with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, and this symbiosis plays a significant role in the survival and growth of trees (Smith and Read 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Forest tree species may occur outside their historic natural range in response to climate change and global warming or because humans have deliberately introduced a tree species in a region where the species is very productive. Because suitable generalist ECM fungi are known to occur in this region (Stasińska 1999; Wojewoda 2003), and the introduced fir trees are exhibiting excellent growth rates, we hypothesized that the overall diversity of the ECM fungal community would be within the wide range of taxa reported from other coniferous forests This assumption is supported by the finding that the non-native ECM trees often accept local mycorrhizal fungi as their symbiotic partners (Cullings et al 2000; Tedersoo et al 2007; Bahram et al 2013; O’Hanlon et al 2013; Kohout et al 2011). Results obtained will greatly enhance our understanding about the ECM fungal communities of A. alba when this tree species is growing outside its natural range

Materials and methods

Findings

Results