Arbuscular mycorrhiza of Deschampsia cespitosa (Poaceae) at different soil depths in highly metal-contaminated site in southern Poland

Abstract

This study presents root colonization of <em>Deschampsia cespitosa</em> growing in the immediate vicinity of a former Pb/Zn smelter by arbuscular mycorhizal fungi (AMF) and dark septated endophytes (DSE) at different soil depths. AMF spores and species distribution in soil profile were also assessed. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and DSE were found in <em>D. cespitosa</em> roots at all investigated soil levels. However, mycorrhizal colonization in topsoil was extremely low with sporadically occurring arbuscules. AM parameters: frequency of mycorrhization of root fragments (<em>F</em>%), intensity of root cortex colonization (<em>M</em>%), intensity of colonization within individual mycorrhizal roots (<em>m</em>%), and arbuscule abundance in the root system (<em>A</em>%) were markedly higher at 20–40, 40–60 cm soil levels and differed in a statistically significant manner from AM parameters from 0–10 and 10–20 cm layers. Mycorrhizal colonization was negatively correlated with bioavailable Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations. The number of AMF spores in topsoil was very low and increased with soil depth (20–40 and 40–60 cm). At the study area spores of three morphologically distinctive AMF species were found: <em>Archaeospora trappei</em>, <em>Funneliformis mosseae</em> and <em>Scutellospora dipurpurescens</em>. The fourth species <em>Glomus tenue</em> colonized roots of <em>D. cespitosa</em> and was observed in the root cortex at 20–40 and 40–60 soil depth, however, its spores were not found at the site.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) root colonization dynamics of Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench. in grasslands and post-industrial sites

“…Conversely, the values of other parameters (M%, A%) were comparable with results obtained for other grasses such as Deschampsia caespitosa (Gucwa-Przepióra et al, 2013; A% did not exceed 3% and M% was below 5%), Calamagrostis varia and Sesleria caerulea (Regvar et al, 2006).…”

“…High concentration of bio-available forms of heavy metals such as Cd and Zn, has even more toxic effect on plants and mycorrhizal fungi than their total content in the soil (Gucwa-Przepióra et al, 2013;Pawłowska and Charvat, 2004;Regvar et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2007;Zarei et al, 2008). We confirmed these results since we found a negative correlation between mycorrhizal colonization parameters (F%, M%, A%) of Molinia caerulea on post-industrial sites and concentration of bio-available Zn and to the smaller extent Cd.…”

“…The mean values of EC were higher on post-industrial sites (0.51 mS/cm) compared with those in the grasslands (0.34 mS/cm) and were not significantly greater than those indicated by Pattinson et al (2000) as serious limitation of the mycorrhizal colonization. Soil reaction and EC had also no effect on colonization level of roots of other species growing on post-industrial sites (Gucwa-Przepióra et al, 2013;Oliveira et al, 2001;Zarei et al, 2008). In our studies a negative correlation was found between all mycorrhizal colonization parameters (A%, M%, F%) and water holding capacity (WHC%; data not shown) which is considered to be a key factor in the survival of plants on polluted soils (Ryszka and Turnau, 2007;.…”

Effect of plant root symbionts on performance of native woody species in competition with an invasive grass in multispecies microcosms

“…Hall (Hilbig & Allen, 2015;Sigüenza, Corkidi, & Allen, 2006). Glomus tenue is present in a wide range of soils including agricultural soils of southwestern Australia (Abbott & Robson, 1977;Gucwa-Przepióra, Blaszkowski, Kurtyka, Malkowski, & Malkowski, 2013;Orchard, Standish, Nicol, Gupta, & Ryan, 2016). Lastly, Bromus diandrus does not associate with rhizobia.…”

Fungi in a Psaronius root mantle from the Rotliegend (Asselian, Lower Permian/Cisuralian) of Thuringia, Germany

“…Interactions of "fine endophytes" with plants remain poorly understood, but their presence in the roots appears to be of benefit to the host plant (Rabatin et al, 1993;Olsson et al, 2004;Postma et al, 2007;Smith and Read, 2008;Walker et al, 2010). Moreover, the formation of mycorrhizas by "fine endophytes" has been documented in several different plants, including raspberries and several grasses (Crush, 1973;Rabatin, 1979;Gianinazzi-Pearson et al, 1981;Zubek and Błaszkowski, 2009;Gucwa-Przepióra et al, 2013). In specimens forming mycorrhizas, hyphal coils are common within root cortical cells, and arbuscules are abundant (Nicolson and Schenck, 1979;Orchard et al, 2016).…”