DIVERSITY OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IN THE CALDENAL, SAN LUIS (ARGENTINA)

ONTIVERO, R. E.; RISIO ALLIONE, L. V.; CRESPO, E. M.; LUGO, M. A.

San Luis

Congreso; XIII Congreso Argentino de Microbiología General; 2018

SAMIGE

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are biotrophic mutualistic symbionts of the 80% of the terrestrialplants; they increase the growth of their hosts through the contribution in the absorption of water andnutrients by means of its extensive network of mycelium in the soil. This hyphal network alsocontributes to the soil aggregation, prevents erosion and interconnects plants, redistributing resourcesin the community. Also, these fungi benefit their hosts by increasing the host resistance to drought andpathogens attacks. AMF mycelium and spores are common components of soil microorganismscommunities in diverse ecosystems. In worldwide arid areas, mycorrhizal associations have beenregistered with species of the genus Prosopis (Fabaceae). Ecosystem services are the direct benefits tosociety obtained by the functioning of an ecosystem. Thus, the HMA constitute a key functional groupin the soil with an important role as ecosystem services providers through the increase of plantproductivity, soil formation and improvement of the soil conditions, the prevention against biotic andabiotic stress. Despite playing a key role in ecosystems, a gap in the knowledge of the diversity of theAMF in Argentina exists. Particularly, in the Caldenal, Fitogeographical Province of the Espinal, thereare no records of the AMF diversity. Taking into account that the ?Caldén? forests (Prosopis caldeniaBurkart, Fabaceae) are suffering a constant reduction in their distribution area, driven mainly by theadvance of the agricultural-livestock border, the knowledge of the AMF diversity as a basic serviceecosystem and as an indicator of the general health of the soil is of vital importance for the preparationof an adequate management plans for the forest and the microorganisms diversity conservation in thesoil and for the maintenance and/or conservation of soil quality. The objective of this work was todetermine the diversity of the AMF in the Northern limit of the ?Caldén? Forest natural distribution.The sampling sites were four forest in Villa Mercedes, San Luis; soil samples extraction and AMFdiversity analysis were done with classic technics. The morphospecies were determined by observingthe spores and sporocarps in the optical microscope. Ten morphospecies belonging to the genera werefound preliminarily: Acaulospora, Claroideoglomus, Diversispora, Entrophospora, Funneliformis,Gigaspora, Glomus, Rhizophagus, Sclerocystis and Scutellospora; showing a variation in thefrequency of appearance of each taxa in the different plots. This work will serve as a starting point for later studies comparing the diversity of AMF between areas with different land uses and for theanalysis of the potential ecosystem services of AMF in the Caldenal.