High turnover of fungal hyphae in incubation experiments
Author
Summary, in English
Soil biological studies are often conducted on sieved soils without the presence of plants. However, soil fungi build delicate mycelial networks, often symbiotically associated with plant roots (mycorrhizal fungi). We hypothesized that as a result of sieving and incubating without plants, the total fungal biomass decreases. To test this, we conducted three incubation experiments. We expected total and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal biomass to be higher in less fertilized soils than in fertilized soils, and thus to decrease more during incubation. Indeed, we found that fungal biomass decreased rapidly in the less fertilized soils. A shift towards thicker hyphae occurred, and the fraction of septate hyphae increased. However, analyses of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and neutral lipid fatty acids could not clarify which fungal groups were decreasing. We propose that in our soils, there was a fraction of fungal biomass that was sensitive to fertilization and disturbance (sieving, followed by incubation without plants) with a very high turnover (possibly composed of fine hyphae of AM and saprotrophic fungi), and a fraction that was much less vulnerable with a low turnover (composed of saprotrophic fungi and runner hyphae of AMF). Furthermore, PLFAs might not be as sensitive in detecting changes in fungal biomass as previously thought.
Department/s
Publishing year
2009
Language
English
Pages
389-396
Publication/Series
FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Volume
67
Issue
3
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Biological Sciences
Keywords
- neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA)
- microscopic counting
- fatty acid (PLFA)
- phospholipid
- saprotrophic fungi
- arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)
Status
Published
Research group
- Microbial Ecology
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1574-6941