Benefits of mycorrhizal inoculation in reintroduction of endangered plant species under drought conditions

摘要

Numerous human activities constitute threats to biodiversity. The effects of climate change, including increasing drought in already arid lands, pose an additional layer of uncertainty in the fate of rare species. In the case of plants, reintroduction is becoming an important active management practice in species conservation. We hypothesized that even under extreme drought inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi would increase growth rates of an endangered plant in experimental reintroduction. We selected a plant species, Abronia macrocarpa, and conducted the experiment in Texas while the area was experiencing mild and extreme drought intensities. Treatment plots were planted with seed inoculated with arbus-cular mycorrhizal fungi and control plots were planted with seed coated with autoclaved inoculant. We analyzed measurements of growth and development of germinated plants. Mean number of leaves was greater in treatment plants (P = 0.005) and mean aerial diameter was larger in treatment plants (P = 0.02) than in control plants. Significantly improved growth suggests that inoculation is a viable technique to increase reintroduction success in plant species especially during periods of drought.