Distribution of AM fungi along salinity gradient in a salt pan habitat

摘要

Inland saltpans offer an opportunity to study the effects of soil salinity on AM fungal-halophyte associations without the confounding influence of tidal inundations. Soil salinity exerts powerful effects on both, the distribution of individual plant species and community structures (Ungar 1996). Salinity can also affect the distribution and abundance of mycorrhizal fungi. Soil salinity gradients, despite being common in coastal and inland ecosystems, have rarely been the focus of studies of mycorrhizal fungi (Johnson-Green, Kinkel, and Booth 1995). The Bhal, near Bhavnagar, is a low lying area, which periodically gets inundated by the back waters of the Gulf of Khambhat. As a result, it suffers from chronic soil salinity. Solar salt harvesting isone of the major economic activities in this area. Soil salinity (sodium content) in these saltpans can go up to more than 75000 mg/g. The only plant that survives such extreme salinity is Suaeda nudiflora, which grows in and around the periphery of these salt pans.