Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Diversity on Abies korea and Taxus cuspidata at Two Altitudes in Mt. Halla

Ji-Eun Lee1   Ahn-Heum Eom1,*   

1Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju 28173, Korea

Abstract

In this study, the community structures of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi in the roots of Abies koreana and Taxus cuspidata were investigated at different altitudes of Mt. Halla. We identified the collected ECM root tips based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis through sequencing of the rDNA ITS regions. From the roots of A. koreana and T. cuspidata, 11 species and 12 species were identified, respectively. The Shannon’s index and species evenness and abundance of the ECM fungi were higher in the higher than lower regions, regardless of host plant species, however, the number of ECM root tips showed the opposite pattern. The community similarity among the ECM fungi in A. koreana was significantly higher than that among the ECM fungi in T. cuspidata or than that between A. koreana and T. cuspidata (p < 0.05). These results could be useful for the conservation and management of the habitat of A. koreana, which is threatened with extinction due to increasing ambient air temperature.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on a large subunit rDNA sequences of ectomycorrhizal fungi isolated from roots. was used as an outgroup. Numbers at nodes represent bootstrap support values (1,000 replicates).