TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a local community
T2 - Role of sampling effort and spatial heterogeneity
AU - Whitcomb, Sean
AU - Stutz, Jean C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowlegements We would like to thank Chris Martin and Brooke Stabler for setting up and maintaining the study site, and Elizabeth Wentz for help with the spatial statistics. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant no. DEB 9714833, CAP LTER. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was assessed in two 9.2 x 9.2-m plots planted with landscape trees and shrubs at an experimental site in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Twenty-five soil samples were collected in a regular grid pattern from each plot, and AMF species were identified using trap cultures. A total of 12 species were detected, with 7 species detected in one plot and 11 in the other. We found that sampling effort had a major impact on assessing species richness and composition in this local community. Fifteen samples would be necessary to detect 70-80% of species present in each plot. A limited number of additional undetected species are likely to be present in both plots, based on the sampling effort curves and jackknife estimates. Only two species, Glomus eburneum and Glomus microaggregatum, were detected in over 50% of the samples from both plots, and rank-frequency plots revealed a lognormal species distribution. Despite the patchiness of plants in the plots, the number of species detected per point exhibited spatial structuring only at the smallest sampling scale in a single plot, and only a single species in each plot was not randomly distributed. These results indicate that sampling effort and strategy can affect perceptions of AMF community structure.
AB - Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was assessed in two 9.2 x 9.2-m plots planted with landscape trees and shrubs at an experimental site in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Twenty-five soil samples were collected in a regular grid pattern from each plot, and AMF species were identified using trap cultures. A total of 12 species were detected, with 7 species detected in one plot and 11 in the other. We found that sampling effort had a major impact on assessing species richness and composition in this local community. Fifteen samples would be necessary to detect 70-80% of species present in each plot. A limited number of additional undetected species are likely to be present in both plots, based on the sampling effort curves and jackknife estimates. Only two species, Glomus eburneum and Glomus microaggregatum, were detected in over 50% of the samples from both plots, and rank-frequency plots revealed a lognormal species distribution. Despite the patchiness of plants in the plots, the number of species detected per point exhibited spatial structuring only at the smallest sampling scale in a single plot, and only a single species in each plot was not randomly distributed. These results indicate that sampling effort and strategy can affect perceptions of AMF community structure.
KW - Community structure
KW - Geostatistics
KW - Spatial distribution
KW - Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae
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U2 - 10.1007/s00572-007-0118-5
DO - 10.1007/s00572-007-0118-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 17340140
AN - SCOPUS:34250858042
SN - 0940-6360
VL - 17
SP - 429
EP - 437
JO - Mycorrhiza
JF - Mycorrhiza
IS - 5
ER -