A comparative study of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in forest, grassland and cropland in the Tibetan Plateau, China

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus community composition and diversity among the forest, grassland, and cropland ecosystems in the Tibetan Plateau were carried out in this study. A total of 44 AM fungi belonging to six genera were isolated from 144 soil samples collected from forest, grassland, and cropland. Of these AM fungi, 40 taxa were found in forest, 19 in grassland, and 19 in cropland. Glomus was the dominant genus in the three ecosystems, as well as Acaulospora was dominant in forest and grassland. Acaulospora laevis and A. scrobiculata were the dominant species in forest. Acaulospora laevis and Glomus mosseae were dominant in grassland and cropland. The spore density, species richness, and Shannon diversity index of AM fungi from high to low were forest > grassland > cropland. The Sorenson's similarity coefficients of AM fungus community composition ranged from 0.58 to 0.63 between the forest, grassland, and cropland. The results revealed that there was high diversity of AM fungi and the AM fungal community composition varied among the three ecosystems.