Florencia Soteras

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in saline soils: vertical distribution at different soil depth

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonize land plants in every ecosystem, even extreme conditions such as saline soils. In the present work we report for the first time the mycorrhizal status and the vertical fungal distribution of AMF spores present in the rhizospheric soil samples of four species of Chenopodiaceae (Allenrolfea patagonica, Atriplex argentina, Heterostachys ritteriana and Suaeda divaricata) at five different depths in two saline of central Argentina. Roots showed medium, low or no colonization (0–50%). Nineteen morphologically distinctive AMF species were recovered. The number of AMF spores ranged between 3 and 1162 per 100 g dry soil, and AMF spore number decreased as depth increased at both sites. The highest spore number was recorded in the upper soil depth (0–10 cm) and in S. divaricata. Depending of the host plant, some AMF species sporulated mainly in the deep soil layers (Glomus magnicaule in Allenrolfea patagonica, Septoglomus aff. constrictum in Atriplex argentina), others mainly in the top layers (G. brohultti in Atriplex argentina and Septoglomus aff. constrictum in Allenrolfea patagonica). Although the low percentages of colonization or lack of it, our results show a moderate diversity of AMF associated to the species of Chenopodiaceae investigated in this study. The taxonomical diversity reveals that AMF are adapted to extreme environmental conditions from saline soils of central Argentina.

Taxonomic and Functional Response of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi to Land Use Change in Central Argentina

It has been predicted that land use change will pose the main threat to biodiversity worldwide (Sala et al. 2000). A recent meta-analysis shows that, at local scale, conversion and degradation of habitats promote on average a global decline of 8.1 % of species richness and 10.1 % of abundance (Newbold et al. 2015). These human-mediated changes in biodiversity strongly affect ecosystem stability (Hautier et al. 2015). Given the importance of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and services, studies on the effects of land use on species assemblages are highly relevant in current global context.

NEOTROPICAL TREE PRODUCTION: INSIGHTS INTO GERMINATION, GROWTH AND OUTPLANTING FOR Maytenus boaria

Fil: Marro, Nicolas Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina