Lycopodium

Abstract: Roots of 40 taxa of higher plants (Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta) from two alpine study sites in Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska were examined for their mycorrhizal colonization. We observed ectomycorrhizae on six species: Betula nana, Salix reticulata, Salix polaris, Salix arctica, Polygonum viviparum, and Dryas octopetala. Seven taxa, Cassiope tetragona, Empetrum nigrum, Ledum palustre subsp. decumbens, Ledum palustre subsp. groenlandicum, Loiseleuria procumbens, Vaccinium uliginosum and Vaccinium vitis–idaea (all Ericales), had ericoid mycorrhizae. One species, Arctostaphylos alpina, formed a typical arbutoid mycorrhiza. Two species (Sibbaldia procumbens and Aconitum delphinifolium) showed well-developed VA mycorrhizae, whereas three species of plants (Lycopodium clavatum, Silene acaulis and Oxytropis scammaniana) had vesicles, but no arbuscules. The roots of 11 other plants (Lycopodium clavatum, Lycopodium selago, Silene acaulis, Gentiana algida, Lupinus arcticus, Oxytropis scammaniana, Pedicularis langsdorffii, Pedicularis capitata, Pedicularis verticillata, Artemisia sp. and Carex bigelowii) had a variety of intracellular colonizations which are referred to as dark septate fungi. No mycorrhizae were found on 12 other plants: Equisetum arvense, Equisetum variegatum, Lycopodium alpinum, Polygonum bistorta, Saxifraga hieracifolia, Saxifraga hirculus, Astragalus alpinus, Pedicularis kanei, Petasites frigidus, Carex podocarpa, Carex microchaeta and Poa arctica. A possible ecological role of dark septate fungi is discussed.

Abstract: This study characterizes the molecular and phylogenetic identity of fungi involved in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations in extant Huperzia and Lycopodium (Lycopodiaceae). Huperzia and Lycopodium are characterized by a life cycle with long-lived autotrophic sporophytes and long-lived mycoheterotrophic (obtain all organic carbon from fungal symbionts) gametophytes. 18S ribosomal DNA was isolated and sequenced from Glomus symbionts in autotrophic sporophytes of seven species of Huperzia and Lycopodium and mycoheterotrophic Huperzia gametophytes collected from the Paramos of Ecuador. Phylogenetic analyses recovered four Glomus A phylotypes in a single clade (MH3) that form AM associations with Huperzia and Lycopodium. In addition, phylogenetic analyses of Glomus symbionts from other nonphotosynthetic plants demonstrate that most AM fungi that form mycoheterotrophic associations belong to at least four specific clades of Glomus A. These results suggest that most mycoheterotrophic plants that form AM associations do so with restricted clades of Glomus A. Moreover, the correspondence of identity of AM symbionts in Huperzia sporophytes and gametophytes raises the possibility that photosynthetic sporophytes are a source of carbon to conspecific mycoheterotrophic gametophytes via shared fungal networks.