Taxonomy and Ecology Of Inland Sand Dune ... - Mycorrhizae

Discussionof coexisting grassland plant species weregrown either as seedlings in sterilized soilor from seeds in field soil. These wereA. AVM FUNGAL ASSOCIATIONIN NATURAL VEGETATEDSYSTEM.Total of 29 VAM fungal species werefound associated with the roots of 23plant species under investigation atNorthern Colorado National Park SandDunes (TABLE 1). I found up to 9different fungal species on one plant host.Also, I found one VAM species can domycorrhizal association with 10 differenthost species. Similarly Koske (1987)found 8 to 14 different VAM species inthe roots of Ammophila breiligulata,Solidago sempervirens, and Uniolapaniculata along transect on the barrierdunes of the US. Also, Rosendahl et al.(1990) were able to identify four differentmycorrhizal types in the roots of severalcoexisting plants, while Sanders andFitter (1992a) found that different VAMfungal species sporulated when a numberevidences of no host specificity, either infungal distribution or in the ability of onefungal species to infect a restricted rangeof hosts. The unspecificity in VAMfungi also has been proofed by (Woodsand Brock, 1964; Reid and Woods, 1969;Read et al., 1976; Johnson, 1977; Trappeand Fogel, 1977; Hirrel and Gerdemann,1979).The variation in colonization percentagesof VAM plant species was 42.86 to 4.94from transects along the vegetated andnonvegetated sand dunes ecosystem.This variation could be related to theconclusion that synthesized by otherworkers (Gay et al., 1982; Brundrelt andKendrick, 1988; Sander and Fitter 1992b)when they found a great range in VAMinfection density of the roots ofcoexisting species. The variation inVAM infection could be a result ofenvironmental pressures that determinethe growth of plant roots or the fungus,