Forest management of native shrublands: an approach to mycorrhizal colonization

CARRON AI; FERNÁNDEZ NV; GARIBALDI LA; FONTENLA S

Workshop; International Workshop, Mycorrhizal Symbiosis in the Southern Cone of South America; 2017

Shrublands have high productive capacity. In Patagonia, more than 70% of these native environments are exploited for livestock and timber extraction. The alteration of soils and vegetation affect the richness and composition of edaphic fungal communities, including mycorrhizal fungi which are one of the most abundant fungal groups in soil. In the Andean-Patagonian forests, about 70% of the plant species have mycorrhizas. Our aim was to analyze in a native shrubland the effect of two management practices on the mycorrhizal colonization of the dominant species Nothofagus antarctica. Eight experimental plots were established in threesites of a native shrubland combining: thinning intensity (basal area removed 70, 50, 30 and 0%) and implantation of six native tree species (with and without implantation). One year after these management practices were implemented, roots were collected from three adult individuals of N. antarctica established prior to management. The percentage of ectomycorrhizal colonization was quantified. Datawere analyzed with multilevel models inference using the AICc value to select the best-fit model. All individuals presented ectomycorrhizas, the percentages oscillated from 74 to 92% and were similar to the values registered in other Nothofagus species in the Patagonian region. The best-fit model was that considered the thinning, implantation, and the interaction between both, however these variables had no significant effect in mycorrhizal colonization. This could due to the dependence of these plants to this relationship to facilitate the nutrient capture,mainly phosphorus, or that the time elapsed from the implementation of the management to the sampling is not sufficient enough to evidence changes in the colonization. Continue with this work, analyzing the effect of the management in short and medium time scale and supplement these data with other researches in the same plot design is important for setting up guidelines for sustainable forest management in native shrublands.