Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the ecological implications of mycorrhizal associations in natural ecosystems and the role of soil or environmental factors, mycorrhizal fungus characteristics or host plant properties. Mycorrhizal associations are regulated by features of the host plant and mycorrhizal fungus, as well as by soil conditions and environmental factors. Factors which can influence the occurrence and effectiveness of mycorrhizal associations include (1) root properties (2) edaphic or climatic factors (3) soil organisms, (4) soil disturbance, and (5) host-fungus compatibility. Several other complex ecological topics also discussed in the chapter include (1) mycorrhizal phenology , (2) factors responsible for varying degrees of mycorrhizal dependency in host plants, (3) the role of mycorrhizal hyphae in soil (4) nutrient competition involving mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants, and (5) mycorrhizal interactions involving pollution and other stresses, the rhizosphere, soil properties and allelopathy. Finally, the chapter also discusses the population ecology of mycorrhizal fungi and the influence of their associations on plant population ecology.

Mycorrhizas in Natural Ecosystems

1 In laboratory microcosm experiments, co-occurring plant species were found to support very different rates of sporulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These differences were not affected by the time of harvest, suggesting that they reflect host-dependent differences in fungal growth rates, rather than host-dependent timing of sporulation. 2 Spore counts in field soil and estimates from sorghum trap cultures showed that the association of AM fungi with particular host plants in the field was positively correlated with the sporulation rates observed on those hosts in the microcosm experiments. 3 The AM fungal species richness observed at the field site was high relative to estimates made in previous studies. 23 distinct species of AM fungi were found, seven of which have not been previously described. 4 The host-dependence of the relative growth rates of fungal populations may play an important role in the maintenance of fungal species diversity.

Host-Dependent Sporulation and Species Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in a Mown Grassland

Symbiotic associations between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous in many herbaceous plant communities and can have large effects on these communities and ecosystem processes. The extent of species-specificity between these plant and fungal symbionts in nature is poorly known, yet reciprocal effects of the composition of plant and soil microbe communities is an important assumption of recent theoretical models of plant community structure. In grassland ecosystems, host plant species may have an important role in determining development and sporulation of AM fungi and patterns of fungal species composition and diversity. In this study, the effects of five different host plant species [Poa pratensis L., Sporobolus heterolepis (A. Gray) A. Gray, Panicum virgatum L., Baptisia bracteata Muhl. ex Ell., Solidago missouriensis Nutt.] on spore communities of AM fungi in tallgrass prairie were examined. Spore abundances and species composition of fungal communities of soil samples collected from patches within tallgrass prairie were significantly influenced by the host plant species that dominated the patch. The AM fungal spore community associated with B. bracteata showed the highest species diversity and the fungi associated with Pa. virgatum showed the lowest diversity. Results from sorghum trap cultures using soil collected from under different host plant species showed differential sporulations of AM fungal species. In addition, a greenhouse study was conducted in which different host plant species were grown in similar tallgrass prairie soil. After 4 months of growth, AM fungal species composition was significantly different beneath each host species. These results strongly suggest that AM fungi show some degree of host-specificity and are not randomly distributed in tallgrass prairie. The demonstration that host plant species composition influences AM fungal species composition provides support for current feedback models predicting strong regulatory effects of soil communities on plant community structure. Differential responses of AM fungi to host plant species may also play an important role in the regulation of species composition and diversity in AM fungal communities.

Host plant species effects on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in tallgrass prairie

Biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agroecosystems.

Soil resource heterogeneity in the Mojave Desert

When the influence of five host plants on spores produced by three mycorrhizal fungi was tested, the number of spores produced was highly variable within treatment. Sporulation of Glomus fasciculatum was significantly influenced by host plant but spore production by G. macrocarpum and G. mosseae was not. Spore production was not correlated with degree of root colonization but with plant dry weight, although differences in dry weight alone could not explain the influence of host plant on G. fasciculatum sporulation. Apparently, sporulation of G. fasciculatum is more heavily influenced by host plant than is sporulation of G. macrocarpum and G. mosseae. Different levels of host-fungus affinity may exist. When the efficiency (ability to colonize) of the inoculum produced by the three fungi on the five host plants was compared, few significant differences were evident even at the lowest dilution of 1.4 spores/ 42 g soil. Thus, the ability of spores to colonize their host may be relatively constant despite differences in spore numbers which have been produced.

The influence of host plant on production and colonization ability of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal spores.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Jill Bloom

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

The influence of host plant on production and colonization ability of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal spores.