Host preferences of arbuscular mycorrhizae along the soil nutrient and hydrological gradient

Abstract

78 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (Phylum Glomeromycota) [1] form mutualistic symbiotic associations with the roots of rough ly 80% of all terrestrial plant species [2] ac ting as an extension of the plant root system to support plant development under nutrient limiting and stress conditions. AMF alleviate water stress via the direct uptake and transfer of water and nutrients through the fungal hyphae to the host plants resulting in a signi ficant increase in plant height, stem diameter, and fresh weight of the plant, which in turn provides carbohydrates to the fungus. Plant growth is greatly affected by environmental stresses such as drought, nutrient limitation and salt loading; nutrient exchange by AMF may be critically important when soil fertility and water availability are low. A number of studies reported benefits of AMF associations to plants under environmental stress [3–6]. Several studies show that the presence of AMF alters plant communities by affecting the rela tive abundance of plant species and plant species diversity [7–9]. The plants and soil in turn also influence the species composition of the AMF community. Eom et al. [10] suggest that AMF do not show host specificity and are randomly distributed in natural ecosystems. However, others suggest some preference may exist between host plant and AMF since the effect of symbiosis on individual plants can differ by AMF species and small scale varia tion in soil factors such as pH, nutrient con centration, moisture, temperature or organic matters may influence AMF communities [11–15]. In this study we use PCR with Glome romycota specific primers and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to inves tigate the effect of local environmental varia tion (a hydrological and soil nutrient gradient along a hillslope) as well as the effect of plant host on natural AMF populations colonizing two widespread, native eastern Texas USA plants. Previously we sequenced the PCR products from root samples from these two plants and confirmed glomalean origin of the amplicons [16].

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