PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 10: Soil Ecology.

Tuesday, August 5 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Ectomycorrhizal composition and diversity during primary succession on coastal Lake Michigan sand dunes.

Forsgren, Todd^*,1, Palopoli, Michael¹, Lichter, John ¹, ¹ Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, USA

ABSTRACT- Coastal dune chronosequences provide useful systems in which to study patterns of primary succession. We examined the concomitant development of plant and ectomycorrhizal communities across a well-established dune chronosequence bordering northern Lake Michigan. Ectomycorrhizal fungi from white pine seedlings were sampled on seven dunes ranging in age from 30 to 800 years in age. Fungi were sorted by morphotype, and the primers ITS1-F, ITS4, and ITS4-B were used to amplify and sequence their DNA. The DNA sequence data were compared with a database developed from herbarium specimens (Bruns et al. 1998) to identify the ectomycorrhizae to species. We found that species diversity was low during the first 100 years of forest ecosystem development, but increased rapidly to near peak diversity after this initial period of low diversity. These results are consistent with an early and late stage model of ectomycorrhizal succession. We hypothesize that colonization constraints delay ectomycorrhizal establishment of many fungal species.

Key words: succession, diversity, ectomycorrhiza, DNA sequence