Fróðskaparrit - 01.07.2004, Page 33

VAL AV LÍVØKI HJÁ ARBUSKULSOPPUM
í FØROYUM SAMMETT VIÐ AÐRASTAÐNI
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Agrostis capillaris, in most case growing
with Ranunculus acris. The fungi therefore
had the opportunity to colonise both plant
species. The same main AM fungal types
are found in both plant species, but they
show different patterns according to habi-
tat, and some AM types show preference
towards a specific host (unpublished data).
Sequences from these field-collected fun-
gal types were compared with sequences
submitted to the Genebank of the National
Center for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI) from a similar study in Scotland
(Vandenkoornhuyse et al., 2002; Genbank
accession nos AF437637-AF437723). The
Vandenkoornhuyse study used very similar
methods as the study presented here for the
molecular work, and their host plant was
also Agrostis capillaris, though growing
with Trifolium repens.
For identification purposes named se-
quences are used in the phylogenetic tree
(Fig. 1). These were submitted by SchiiBler
et al. (2001) and Helgason et al. (1999;
2002), and obtained from NCBI.
The results from plants of Agrostis capil-
laris from 2 different sites in the Faroes
were compared with Agrostis capillaris
from a Scottish site when all were grown in
a glasshouse.
The sites
The Faroese sites consist of 4 altitudinal
slopes, 2 north-facing and 2 south-facing.
The results provided here are taken from
the lowest altitude, approx. 100 m asl, and
the highest 600 m, in total 8 sites. The sites
are open grassland and span from temper-
ate zone (south-facing low altitude, to
alpine zone (all high altitude sites) (Fosaa,
2004). The sites are all grazed by sheep.
The glasshouse grown A. capillaris are
from 1 north-facing high altitude site
(Sornfelli), 1 south-facing low altitude site
(Velbastað) and 1 Scottish low altitude site
(Sourhope).
The “Sornfelli” site is a north-facing
high altitude site (600 m a.s.l.), “Velbastað”
is low altitude (200 m a.s.l.) south-facing,
while “Sourhope” is low altitude (300 m
а. s.l.). The Sourhope sampling was on the
top of a hill. Average soil temperatures at
Sourhope range from 7.7-8.7°C (Burt-
Smith, 1999-2002), while a 3 year mean of
the soil temperature at Somfelli was 4.2°C
(Fosaa et al., 2002). No temperature log-
ging is from Velbastað, but south-facing
sites at the same altitude range from 6-
б. 6°C (Fosaa et al., 2002). All temperature
measurements are annual mean tempera-
tures. All the sites are grazed by herbivores,
the Faroese sites mainly by sheep, the Scot-
tish site by cattle.
The data from glasshouse grown plants
are based upon 4 successful amplifications
from Sornfelli, 3 from Velbastað and 8
from Sourhope. The sampling dates differ,
the Faroese samples were taken in late Au-
gust, while the Scottish samples were taken
late October. The difference in sampling
date should be overcome by the treatment
the sampled plants and fungi have had: they
were grown for several months (6 months
for the Faroese samples, 4 months for the
Scottish) under the same conditions: 10-
12°C in a chilled counter located in a
warmed glasshouse with light on 16 hours.