Biodiv Sci ›› 2010, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (1): 83-89.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2010.083

• Original Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from different sources on the growth and physiology of Ardisia crenata

Hongping Mu1,2, Yizhu Chen1, Honglin Cao1, Wanhui Ye1,*()   

  1. 1 South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650
    2 Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
  • Received:2009-10-20 Accepted:2010-01-17 Online:2010-01-20 Published:2010-01-20
  • Contact: Wanhui Ye

Abstract:

Ardisia crenata, a shrubby flowering plant native to East and Southeast Asia, is now invasive in southern USA and elsewhere. We used the trap culture method with A. crenata root fragments of as inocula to obtain host-associated arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. AM fungi were obtained from the species’ invasive range in Texas, USA, and its’ native range in Dongguan in Guangdong Province, Emei Mountain in Sichuan Province and Xingshan in Hubei Province in China. The influences of these AM fungi from different sources on the growth and physiology of A. crenata were determined. Inoculation with all strains of AM fungi increased leaf area ratio (LAR) and relative growth rate (RGR), but did not influence net photosynthetic rate at saturated light (Pn), respiration rate (Rd), ratio of root to shoot (R/S), nitrogen and phosphorus concentration. There were some differences in the effects of AM fungi from different sources. AM fungi sourced from Dongguan in the native range and Texas in the invasive range had equal influence on A. crenata, being more stimulative than AM fungi from other sources. AM fungi sourced from the invasive range did not promote more growth of A. crenata than the combined AM fungi sourced from the native range. Therefore, we conclude that the effects of AM fungi may not be an important factor leading to higher density of A. crenata in invasive populations than in native populations.

Key words: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, invasion, leaf area ratio, relative growth rate, ‘enhanced mutualism’ hypothesis