Arbuscular Mycorrhiza in the Living Collections at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Authors

  • Christopher Walker Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2013.57

Abstract

Most plants have mutualistic symbioses (mycorrhizas) with certain fungi that occupy their roots, the most common of which fall into the category known as arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM). Although most of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are entirely subterranean, some form spore masses or sporocarps sufficiently large to be seen with the unaided eye on the surface of the substrate. During several decades of casual observation in the research greenhouses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), such clumps of spores from several species of AMF have been recorded. A brief introduction to mycorrhizas, with an emphasis on AM, is provided. A list of host plants grown in botanic gardens or similar situations from which AMF have been identified is given. The possible value of AMF is discussed in relation to the ‘ecosystems’ that develop in mature botanic garden greenhouses. Ways of using AMF to improve the establishment or growth of plants are discussed, including a suggestion that adequate controls must always be used, particularly when using previously untested commercially available products.

Author Biography

Christopher Walker, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Mycologist

References

I, K.C. & KUO, S.C. (1990) VA mycorrhizae of citrus seedlings inoculated with Glomus epigaeum and its growth effects. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 29, 35–38.

BRUNDRETT, M.C. (2009). Mycorrhizal associations and other means of nutrition of vascular plants: understanding the global diversity of host plants by resolving conflicting information and developing reliable means of diagnosis. Plant and Soil, 320, 37–77. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9877-9

DANIELS, B.A. & TRAPPE, J.M. (1979). Glomus epigaeus sp. nov., a useful fungus for vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal research. Canadian Journal of Botany, 57(5), 539–542.

DOTZLER, N., WALKER, C., KRINGS, M., HASS, H., KERP, H., TAYLOR, T.N. & AGERER, R. (2009). Acaulosporoid glomeromycotan spores with a germination shield from the 400-million-year-old Rhynie chert. Mycological Progress, 8(1), 9–18. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11557-008-0573-1

FONTANA, A. (1985). Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas of Ginkgo biloba L. in natural and field controlled conditions. New Phytologist, 99, 441–447.

GERDEMANN, J.W. & TRAPPE, J.M. (1974). The Endogonaceae in the Pacific Northwest. Mycologia Memoir, 5, 1–76. Published by the New York Botanical Garden in collaboration with the Mycological Society of America (Bronx, NY).

HELGASON, T., DANIELL, T.J., HUSBAND, R., FITTER, A.H. & YOUNG, J.P.W. (1998). Ploughing up the wood-wide web? Nature, 394, 431.

HUSSEY, R.B., PETERSON, R.L. & TIESSEN, H. (1984). Interactions between vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and asparagus. Plant & Soil, 79, 403–416.

KARSTEN, P.A. (1884). Fragmentia mycological XII. Hedwigia, 23, 39–40.

KRÜGER, M., KRÜGER, C., WALKER, C., STOCKINGER, H. & SCHÜßLER, A. (2012). Phylogenetic reference data for systematics and phylotaxonomy of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from phylum to species level. New Phytologist, 193, 970–984. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03962.x

KRÜGER, M, WALKER, C. & SCHÜßLER, A. (2011). Acaulospora brasiliensis

comb. nov. and Acaulospora alpina (Glomeromycota) from upland Scotland: morphology, molecular phylogeny and DNA-based detection in roots. Mycorrhiza, 21, 577–587.

LI, H.-Y., YANG, G.-D., SHU, H.-R., YANG, Y.-T., YE, B.-X., NISHIDA, I. & ZHENG, C.-C. (2006). Colonization by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus versiforme induces a defense response against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita in the grapevine (Vitis amurensis Rupr.), which includes transcriptional activation of the class III chitin. Plant & Cell Physiology, 47(1), 154–163. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pci231

MOSSE, B. (1953). Fructifications associated with mycorrhizal strawberry roots. Nature, 171, 974.

REDECKER, D., SCHÜßLER, A., STOCKINGER, H., STÜRMER, S.L., MORTON, J.B. & WALKER, C. (2013). An evidence-based consensus for the classification of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycota). Mycorrhiza, 23, 515–531. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00572-013-0486-y

SCHÜßLER, A., KRUEGER, M. & WALKER, C. (2011). Revealing natural relationships among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: culture line BEG47 represents Diversispora epigaea, not Glomus versiforme. PLoS one 6: e23333. Available online: http:dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023333

SCHÜßLER, A. & WALKER, C. (2010). The Glomeromycota. A Species List with New Families and New Genera. Published in December 2010 in libraries at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden Kew, Botanische Staatssammlung Munich and Oregon State University. Available online: http://www.amf-phylogeny.com

SMITH, S.E. & READ, D.J. (2008). Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

SÝKOROVÁ, Z., BÖRSTLER, B., ZVOLENSKÁ, S., FEHRER, J., GRYNDLER, M., VOSÁTKA, M. & REDECKER, D. (2011). Long-term tracing of Rhizophagus irregularis isolate BEG140 inoculated on Phalaris arundinacea in a coal mine spoil bank, using mitochondrial large subunit rDNA markers. Mycorrhiza, 22, 69–80. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00572-011-0375-1

WALKER, C. (1985). Endogone lactiflua forming ectomycorrhizas with Pinus contorta. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 84, 353–355.

WALKER, C. & MCNABB, H.S. Jr. (1984). Mycorrhizal symbionts associated with hybrid poplars from Iowa, USA.

European Journal of Forest Pathology, 14, 282–296.

WALKER, C., MIZE, C.W. & MCNABB, H.S. Jr. (1982). Populations of endogonaceous fungi at two locations in central Iowa. Canadian Journal of Botany, 60, 2518–2529.

Downloads

Published

2013-10-29

How to Cite

Walker, C. (2013). Arbuscular Mycorrhiza in the Living Collections at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Sibbaldia: The International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, (11), 143–157. https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2013.57

Issue

Section

Articles