Record ID No. |
442 |
Author(s) |
Downs T.M., Radford I.J. , 2005 |
Affiliation |
WA Conservat & Land Management Kununurra, POB 942, Kununurra, WA 6743, Australia |
Title |
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation of Hieracium lepidulum roots in experimental and field soil inoculated media |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
New zealand journal of botany. 43(4): 843-850p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Mass production |
Sub-subjects |
Soil inoculum |
Host |
Hieracium lepidulum |
Organism |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (AM) |
Country |
Australia |
Abstracts |
Recent comparative glasshouse experiments have failed to isolate growth or competitive performance that would explain invasiveness in Hieracium lepidulum in New Zealand. It has been noted in a number of studies that root infection by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM F) can alter growth and competitive performance in invasive species. We therefore tested whether H. lepidulum plants grown in experimental substrates (river sand and potting mix) were infected with AMF, and compared AMF infection rates of these plants with those of field collected and inoculated plants. AMF infection was quantified at 100x magnification using a modified grid line intersect method, following staining of root associated fungal structures using trypan blue. In addition, plant establishment, leaf cover, biomass, and root:shoot ratios of plants were compared to test whether presence of AMF in roots was associated with changes in plant performance. Very low AMF hyphal infection rates were found in H. lepidulum roots from plants grown on river sand and potting mix only, while c. 50% and 15% infection rate was observed in field collected and field soil inoculated plants, respectively. The presence of arum-type arbuscules confirms that observed non-septate hyphae were AMF. Plant establishment, cover, and biomass (unfertilised pots only) were greater in AMF infected plants, though this was possibly confounded with soil addition effects. Future studies must separate soil addition and AMF effects explicitly to determine whether growth performance differences among AM F and non-AMF H. lepidulum plants are directly related to the presence of the fungi. |