Biodiversity of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi associated with tropical lowland forests in Colombia, Amazonia

The ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcM) diversity appears to be high diverse in tropical rainforests. However, it is poorly understood and relatively little is known about the ecological importance and the community structure. Studies in ectomycorrhizal host trees in lowland tropical rainforest in Colombia reveal more than 120 morphospecies of putative EcM fungi. Two ecosystems have been studied; the first is dominated by the endemics Pseudomonotes tropenbosii (Dipterocarpaceae) that is only known from small populations in Colombian. The second is a “White Sand” forests dominated by Dicymbe sp. and Aldina sp. (Fabaceae). These two forests occur in very nutrient-poor and acid soils, located on the western extremes of the Guyana Shield. Ninety species of EcM have been collected from P. tropenbosii forests, and 59 from “White Sand” forests. Twenty eight species are sharing for both ecosystems. Some of the species have been reported from similar ecosystems in Guyana by Henkel and co-workers, others represent new taxa or are new reports for Colombia. For the two ecosystems, the fungal community structure is currently studied by 454 pyrosequencing of soil samples. Fungal species occurring in root-tips of EcM host have been identified using the Internal Transcribed Spacer of the rDNA (ITS). So far, several species identified from root tips have not been collected as mushrooms, showing that the knowledge of the EcM diversity will increase with combined molecular and collection approaches.

 

Team

Aída Vasco Palacios PhD(c): Project coordinator

Johnathan Hernandez

 

Partial funding for this project is provided by  The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) of the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC), The Faculty for the Future of Schlumberger Foundation (FFTF Grant 2011-2013) and The International Foundation of Science (IFS Grant D/5052-1, 2011-2-13f)

 

 

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