Switch of tropical Amazon forest to pasture affects taxonomic composition but not species abundance and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community

• Published in: Applied soil ecology : a section of Agriculture, ecosystems & environment ecosystems & environment, 2013-09, Vol.71, p.72-80
• Main Authors: Leal, Patricia Lopes, Siqueira, José Oswaldo, Stürmer, Sidney Luiz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acaulosporaceae; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties; Community structure; Economic plant physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; fungal communities; fungal spores; Glomeraceae; Glomeromycota; host plants; Land use; Mycorrhiza; mycorrhizal fungi; pastures; Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils; sampling; soil sampling; Soil science; species diversity; Species richness; Spore abundance; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...); tropical forests; vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae
• ISSN: 0929-1393; 1873-0272
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2013.05.010

•A total of 36 AMF species were recovered in pasture and forest.•Conversion of pasture to forest influence AMF taxonomic composition.•AMF species richness and abundance distribution were similar between forest and pasture. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community composition and species richness are affected by several factors including soil attributes and plant host. In this paper we tested the hypothesis that conversion of tropical Amazon forest to pasture changes taxonomic composition of AMF community but not community species abundance and richness. Soil samples were obtained in 300m×300m plots from forest (n=11) and pasture (n=13) and fungal spores extracted, counted and identified. A total of 36 species were recovered from both systems, with 83% of them pertaining to Acaulosporaceae and Glomeraceae. Only 12 species were shared between systems and spore abundance of the majority of fungal species did not differ between pasture and forest. Spore abundance was significantly higher in pasture compared to forest but both systems did not differ on mean species richness, Shannon diversity and Pielou equitability. Species abundance distribution depicted by species rank log abundance plots was not statistically different between both systems. We concluded that conversion of pristine tropical forest to pasture influences the taxonomic composition of AMF communities while not affecting species richness and abundance distribution.