Record ID No. |
1665 |
Author(s) |
Mummey, D L., Rillig, M C , 2008 |
Affiliation |
University of Montana, Div Biol Sci, 32 Campus Dr, Missoula,MT 59812 USA |
Title |
Spatial characterization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal molecular diversity at the submetre scale in a temperate grassland |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
FEMS Microbiology Ecology.64(2):260-270p |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Biochemistry |
Sub-subjects |
Miscellaneous |
Organism |
n.a. |
Country |
Missoula, U.S.A |
Abstracts |
Although arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form spatially complex communities in
terrestrial ecosystems, the scales at which this diversity manifests itself is poorly understood.
This information is critical to the understanding of the role of AMF in plant community
composition. We examined small-scale (submetre) variability of AMF community composition
(terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting) and abundance (extraradical
hyphal lengths) in two 1 m(2) plots situated in a native grassland ecosystem of western Montana.
Extraradical AMF hyphal lengths varied greatly between samples (14-89 m g soil(-1)) and exhibited
spatial structure at scales < 30 cm. The composition of AMF communities was also found to exhibit
significant spatial autocorrelation, with correlogram analyses suggesting patchiness at scales <
50 cm. Supportive of overall AMF community composition analyses, individual AMF ribotypes
corresponding to specific phylogenetic groups exhibited distinct spatial autocorrelation. Our
results demonstrate that AMF diversity and abundance can be spatially structured at scales of < 1
m. Such small-scale heterogeneity in the soil suggests that establishing seedlings may be exposed
to very different, location dependent AMF communities. Our results also have direct implications
for representative sampling of AMF communities in the field. |