Morphological and molecular assessment of ectomycorrhizal communities associating with black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) in wetland and upland forests in central British Columbia.

摘要

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses form one of the primary systems for nutrient and energy exchange in northern coniferous forests. ECM communities consist of a diverse array of fungal species that exhibit variable patterns of distribution and abundance, depending on host plant species, soil properties, and environmental factors. Using morphological (microscopy) and molecular (PCR-RFLP) techniques, this study describes ECM community composition and diversity of black spruce across its habitat range in BC's central interior. Habitats included pure black spruce and mixed spruce - tamarack wetlands and black spruce - pine upland forests. Black spruce was found to form ECM with a diverse community of fungal species, several of which were limited to one or two habitats. Although ECM community composition varied between habitats, the total number of types (morphological and molecular) did not. This study emphasizes the importance of sampling across a habitat range to describe ECM communities associated with a particular host species.