Fróðskaparrit - 01.07.2004, Page 31

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Habitat preferences of the arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi of the Faroes compared
with other places
Val av lívøki hjá arbuskulsoppum í Føroyum sammett við aðrastaðni
Erla Olsen1,2 and Alastair Fitter'
1 Department of Biology, University of York, York YOIO 5YW, UK
2 Føroya Náttúrugripasavn, Faroese Museum of Natural History, Debesartrøð, FO-100 Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Email: erla@ngs.fo
Úrtak
Arbuskul soppar eru megin-mycorrhiza symbiosan f
føroysku vegetatiónini. Ymiskir soppar eru funnir í
ymiskum vertsplantum, og harafturat er munur á hvør
soppur er í sama plantuslagi frá ymsum støðum. Her
verða framløgd úrslitini av tí, sum er funnið í vanligum
fínagrasi (Agrostis capillaris) sammett við tað, sum
onnur hava funnið í somu plantu aðrastaðni. Roknað
varð við at føroyska arbuskul soppa floran líktist tí sum
er funnið í Skotlandi har eisini vanligt fínagras var
kannað, men so er ikki. Hinvegin er munurin á tveimum
føroyskum støðum líka stórur sum munurin á føroysk-
um støðum og kannaðum stað í Skotlandi. Føroyska
arbuskul soppafloran líkist mest tí sum erfunnið í einum
enskum skógi.
Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is the main symbiosis in
the Faroese vegetation. The fungal types found in dif-
ferent host plants differ, and there is also a difference of
fungal types in the same plant species from place to
place. Here the results from a survey of fungal types in
Agrostis capillaris are compared with what other stud-
ies have found. It was expected to find a similar AM
fungal flora as in a study from a grassland in Scotland,
also using Agrostis capillaris as the host plant, but that
was not the case. On the other hand two Faroese sites
differ as much as the Faroes and the Scottish site. The
Faroese AM fungal flora sampled here resembled most
closely that found in an English forest.
Introduction
It is the rule rather than the execption for a
plant so be mycorrhizal. If we take the
Faroes as an example, then approx. 70% of
all the plant species are AM, while much of
the rest is ecto- or ericoid. Several plants
are non-mycorrhizal but when considering
their frequency they only account for 6-7%
(Olsen and Fosaa, 2002). These numbers
fits reasonably well with what others have
found in other places. It is widely accepted
Ihat around 2/3 of all plant species world-
wide are arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) (Fit-
ter and Moyersoen, 1996).
One benefit of being mycorrhizal for the
plant is increased nutrient uptake, especial-
ly phosphorus (Fitter, 1985), but there are
also other gains ol' the symbiosis, e.g. pro-
Fróðskaparrit 52. bók 2004: 29-41