Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of rehabilitated bauxite mines and adjacent, natural jarrah forest in Western Australia

Impact of severe forest dieback caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi on macrofungal diversity in the northern jarrah forest of Western Australia

“…These results are consistent with the findings of Brundrett and Abbott (1991), Gardner and Malajczuk (1988), Hilton et al (1989) and Glen et al (2008) that show that the two most dominant forest trees E. marginata and C. calophylla, have mycorrhizal associations. In contrast, the abundance of saprotrophic fungi did not decrease substantially in dieback-affected transects.…”

“…Additionally, macrofungi which fruited between sampling times or outside the duration of the study have also been missed. Other studies have shown that above-ground fruiting bodies do not fully reflect the below-ground diversity, especially in regard to ectomycorrhizal fungi (Dahlberg and Stenlid, 1995;Gardes and Bruns, 1996;Peter et al, 2001;Yamada and Katsuya, 2001;Glen et al, 2008). Because all fungi do not fruit every year (Tyler, 1992), an extended study covering several years and a variety of sampling methods is required to gain better estimates of species diversity and abundance.…”

“…In this study, particular mycorrhizal genera including Lactarius, Amanita and Entoloma were observed to be more common in dieback-affected areas than unaffected areas, in contrast to other genera including Russula, Ramaria and Cortinarius that were largely absent from affected areas. Fungi such as Laccaria are well known as early colonists of jarrah forest following bauxite mining (Gardner and Malajczuk, 1988;Glen et al, 2008) as well as young eucalypt plantations in Western Australia (Lu et al, 1999). The reverse is true of Russula and Cortinarius which are typically absent from disturbed habitats.…”

“…The majority of jarrah forest plants rely on mycorrhizal associations with fungi for survival, but carnivorous plants, parasitic plants and those with non-mycorrhizal cluster roots are also very important in the nutrient poor soils of Western Australia (Lamont, 1982;Brundrett and Abbott, 1991;Lambers et al, 2006;Brundrett, 2009). The diversity of fungi in jarrah forest sites has been investigated in rehabilitated areas following bauxite mining (Gardner and Malajczuk, 1988;Glen et al, 2008) and in a broader context by the Forestcheck monitoring program (Department of Environment and Conservation, 2003Conservation, -2007. Despite their high ecological significance in jarrah forest ecosystems, there have been no prior studies on the impacts that forest decline caused by dieback disease may have on fungal communities.…”

Soil Microbial Community Successional Patterns during Forest Ecosystem Restoration

“…The fungal primers used in this study were reported previously to amplify predominantly basidiomycetes and ascomycetes (21,35) and therefore are likely to include ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are known to be associated with many jarrah forest plant species (8), and free-living saprophytes but not the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Previously, it was reported that the richness of ectomycorrhizal fungal species recovers during jarrah forest rehabilitation, but the species composition remains different (24). Thus, analyses of fungal community structures in soil (this study) and in root tips and sporocarps (24) have both indicated that differences between rehabilitation and nonmined forests are likely to persist for more than 16 to 18 years.…”