Light microscopy of ectomycorrhizas using glycol methacrylate

Ectomycorrhizas of Tropical Angiospermous Trees

“…Roots were traced from the stem base of identified mature trees or saplings until they led to ultimate order fine roots. Samples bearing from 25 to several hundred root tips were excised and fixed in FAA (Sass, 1958) or 3% glutaraldehyde m phosphate buffer (Alexander & Bigg, 1981). In some cases, the entire root systems of identified seedlings were collected.…”

“…Potential ectomycorrhizal root tips were identified under the dissecting microscope and a representative sample of between five and twenty tips were excised. Sections from the Hartig net region were prepared as described by Alexander & Bigg (1981) or Hogberg & Nylund (1981)T he contribution of the fungal sheath to the total cross sectional area of representative samples of each mycorrhizal type was calculated. In a few cases, image analysis was used to estimate the contribution of the Hartig net cells.…”

Mycorrhizal Associations in Some Woodland and Forest Trees and Shrubs in Tanzania

“…The depth at which superficial fine roots were found at each site is recorded in Table 1. Roots apparently ectomycorrhizal, and some roots believed to be endomycorrhizal, were later dehydrated, embedded in glycol methacrylate (Alexander and Bigg, 1981), and sectioned in 3 fim sections on a glass knife. The sections were stained in methylene blue, mounted permanently in balsam and studied in the phase-contrast microscope.…”

Effects of ammonium and nitrate on mycorrhizal seedlings of Pinus sylvestris1

“…The needles and stems were dried separately for 48 hr at 80 °C and weighed. The root system was carefully removed from the soil, gently washed and stored in a glutaraldehyde buffer (ALEXANDER and BIGG 1981) until furtber analysis took place. The root length and the number of root tips were determined on a random part of the fragmented root system (1-5 cm fragments).…”