PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 26: Soil Fungi
Monday, August 8, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 518 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees change their mycorrhizal flora as they age.
Brown, Nick*,1, Fu, Shenzhan2, Yao, Yi-Jian2, Lewis, Rhodri1, Bass, David1, Watkinson, Sarah1, 1 University of Oxford, Oxford, UK2 Institute of Mycology, Beijing, China
ABSTRACT- The known differences life-history strategies and root colonizing ability of ectomycorrhizae (ECM) lead to the prediction that there will be successional changes in the assemblage of species infecting an individual plant. However, little is known about the community dynamics of ECM, particularly the processes of plant root colonisation. We sampled ECM morphotypes on seedling, juvenile and adult beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees at six sites in a UK woodland. Indirect ordination methods were used to look for patterns in ECM community composition. The ECM communities found at different sites in the wood and on different beech life stages were similarly diverse. Adult trees hosted similar ECM communities throughout the wood but those found on seedlings were much more variable. We found a convergence on a consistent climax ECM community rather than a predictable successional sequence. These results were consistent with a tolerance model of succession in which a wide variety of ECM fungi may colonize beech seedlings but strong competition between species results in the selection of a consistent climax community when the tree is an adult.
Key words: Fagus sylvatica L., ectomycorrhiza, succession, ordination