Abstract:
Abstract: For the first time in tropical mountain rain forest, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal
richness and community composition was investigated from planted seedlings of Cedrela
montana, Heliocarpus americanus, Juglans neotropica and Tabebuia chrysantha in reforestation
plots on degraded pastures. A segment of fungal 18S rDNA was sequenced from the mycorrhizas.
Sequences were compared with those obtained from mycorrhizas of adult trees of 30
species in the neighboring, pristine tropical mountain rain forest. In total, 193 glomeromycotan
sequences were analyzed, 130 of them previously unpublished. Members of Glomeraceae,
Acaulosporaceae, Gigasporaceae and Archaeosporales were found in both habitats, with Glomus
Group A sequences being by far the most diverse and abundant. Glomus Group A sequence type
richness did not appear to differ between the habitats; a large number was observed in both.
Glomus Group A sequence type composition, however, was found distinctly different. Seedlings
were rarely colonized by fungi of the pristine forest but trapped a number of fungi known from
other areas, which were rarely found in the pristine forest.
