Record ID No. |
2718 |
Author(s) |
Rillig M C., Mardatin N F., Leifheit E F., Antunes P M. , 2010 |
Affiliation |
Freie Universitat Berlin, Institut fur Biologie, Okologie der Pflanzen, Altensteinstr. 6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. matthias.rillig@fu-berlin.de |
Title |
Mycelium of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increases soil water repellency and is sufficient to maintain water-stable soil aggregates |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
Soil Biology & Biochemistry. 42(7): 1189-1191p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Soil plant relations |
Sub-subjects |
Soil Moisture |
Host |
AMF |
Organism |
Glomus intraradices |
Country |
The Netherlands, Europe |
Abstracts |
Using an in vitro bioreactor system in which the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices was grown in a soil devoid of detectable living microbes, we could show that the mycelium of this fungus contributed to the maintenance of water-stable soil aggregates and increased soil water repellency, as measured by water drop penetration time. This is to our knowledge the first demonstration of a causal link between AM fungal growth and water repellency of soil aggregates. Our results also place AM fungal contributions to soil aggregation on a firm mechanistic footing by showing that hyphae are sufficient to produce effects, in the absence of other soil biota, which have always been included in previous studies. |