Record ID No. |
549 |
Author(s) |
Husband R ., Herre E.A., Turner SL., Gallery R ., Young J.P.W , 2002 |
Affiliation |
University of Yorkshire, Department of Biology, POB 373, York YO10 5YW, N Yorkshire, England |
Title |
Molecular diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and patterns of host association over time and space in a tropical forest |
Source. Vol.(no):Page |
Molecular Ecology. 11(12): 2669-2678p. |
Categories |
Arbuscular Mycorrhiza |
Subjects |
Ecology Genetics |
Host |
Faramea occidentalis, Tetragastris panamensis, Tropical forests |
Organism |
n.a. |
Country |
U.K, Europe |
Abstracts |
We have used molecular techniques to investigate the
diversity and distribution of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)
fungi colonizing tree seedling roots in the tropical forest on
Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Republic of Panama. In the first
year, we sampled newly emergent seedlings of the understory
treelet Faramea occidentalis and the canopy emergent Tetragastris panamensis, from mixed seedling carpets at each of two sites. The following year we sampled surviving seedlings from these cohorts. The roots of 48 plants were analysed using
AM fungal-specific primers to amplify and clone partial small
subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Over 1300 clones
were screened for random fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)
variation and 7% of these were sequenced. Compared with AM
fungal communities sampled from temperate habitats using the
same method, the overall diversity was high, with a total of 30
AM fungal types identified. Seventeen of these types have not
been recorded previously, with the remainder being similar to
types reported from temperate habitats. The tropical mycorrhizal
population showed significant spatial heterogeneity and
nonrandom associations with the different hosts. Moreover there
was a strong shift in the mycorrhizal communities over time. AM fungal types that were dominant in the newly germinated
seedlings were almost entirely replaced by previously rare types
in the surviving seedlings the following year. The high
diversity and huge variation detected across time points, sites
and hosts, implies that the AM fungal types are ecologically
distinct and thus may have the potential to influence
recruitment and host composition in tropical forests.
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