Species Composition Of Mycorrhizal Fungi Research Articles

The Impact of the 1998 Forest Fire on Ectomycorrhizae of Dipterocarp Trees and their Recovery in Tropical Rain Forests of East Kalimantan, Indonesia

The impact of forest fire in 1997 and 1998 on the mycorrhzae was studied at the dipterocarp forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. In unaffected forest more than half of total ectomycorrhizae distributed in the organic layer but in the fire-affected forest one and a half years after the fire, total amount of mycorrhizae was smaller and they were found in deeper soil. The number of morphotypes of mycorrhizae was also smaller in fire-affected forest. An artificial plantation established after clear cut and prescribed burn had the largest amount of ectomycorrhizae, but the diversity was smaller than the unaffected forest. After four years, mycorrhizae had not yet recovered in fire-affected forest although the organic layer had recovered. Pioneer species of mycorrhizal fungi (early-stage fungi) developed sporocarps around the surviving hosts in severely affected forest and this suggests the start of secondary succession of mycorrhizae. In moderately affected forest, the species composition of mycorrhizal fungi which fruited during the study was similar to those of unaffected forest. This fact suggests that such sites may be the refugia of symbionts and be important in reforestation.

PLANT WINNERS AND LOSERS DURING GRASSLAND N-EUTROPHICATION DIFFER IN BIOMASS ALLOCATION AND MYCORRHIZAS

Human activities release tremendous amounts of nitrogenous compounds into the atmosphere. Wet and dry deposition distributes this airborne nitrogen (N) on otherwise pristine ecosystems. This eutrophication process significantly alters the species composition of native grasslands; generally a few nitrophilic plant species become dominant while many other species disappear. The functional equilibrium model predicts that, compared to species that decline in response to N enrichment, nitrophilic grass species should respond to N enrichment with greater biomass allocation aboveground and reduced allocation to roots and mycorrhizas. The mycorrhizal feedback hypothesis states that the composition of mycorrhizal fungal communities may influence the composition of plant communities, and it predicts that N enrichment may generate reciprocal shifts in the species composition of mycorrhizal fungi and plants. We tested these hypotheses with experiments that compared biomass allocation and mycorrhizal function of four grass ecotypes (three species), two that gained and two that lost biomass and cover in response to long-term N enrichment experiments at Cedar Creek and Konza Long-Term Ecological Research grasslands. Local grass ecotypes were grown in soil from their respective sites and inoculated with whole-soil inoculum collected from either fertilized (FERT) or unfertilized (UNFERT) plots. Our results strongly support the functional equilibrium model. In both grassland systems the nitrophilic grass species grew taller, allocated more biomass to shoots than to roots, and formed fewer mycorrhizas compared to the grass species that it replaced. Our results did not fully support the hypothesis that N-induced changes in the mycorrhizal fungal community were drivers of the plant community shifts that accompany N eutrophication. The FERT and UNFERT soil inoculum influenced the growth of the grasses differently, but this varied with site and grass ecotype in both expected and unexpected ways suggesting that ambient soil fertility or other factors may be interacting with mycorrhizal feedbacks.

Mycorrhizal fungal diversity in willow forests of different age along the river Waal, The Netherlands

In The Netherlands, riparian edge forests are often dominated by Salix species because they are well adapted to anaerobic soil conditions. Willows play therefore an important role in rehabilitation of natural riparian edge forests. They associate with both arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi which are essential for successful restoration of natural ecosystems, but it is still unknown what communities of mycorrhizal fungi develop on Salix species in this environment. Salix alba L. (white willow) forests of three different ages (10, 20 and 60 years old) under restoration management along the river Waal were studied by molecular techniques to describe species composition of mycorrhizal fungi in roots and soil surrounding the trees. Presence of AM colonization was not determined in the roots of S. alba and only EM fungi were observed. Frequencies of EM root tips were below 9% at all sites. Twelve types of mycorrhizal fungi were distinguished in the roots. The mycorrhizal below-ground communities were dominated by Tuber species and to our best knowledge, this is the first molecular indication that Tuber spp. are associated with roots of Salix species. The basidiomycetous fungi including Hebeloma and thelephoroid spp. were found mainly in the 20-year-old forest with the lowest soil nutrient concentrations and were apparently able to withstand flooding. A tendency was observed for higher frequencies of mycorrhizal roots with lower nutrient concentrations and higher soil pH among the sites of different age. The results demonstrate that only a limited number of mycorrhizal fungi can resist the harsh conditions caused by flooding and drought.