Potential for monoterpenes to affect ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungal activity in coniferous forests is revealed by novel experimental system

Ludley, Katherine E., Robinson, Clare H., Jickells, Sue, Chamberlain, Paul M. and Whitaker, Jeanette (2009) Potential for monoterpenes to affect ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungal activity in coniferous forests is revealed by novel experimental system. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 41 (1). pp. 117-124. ISSN 0038-0717

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Abstract

The fungal community in coniferous forest soils plays a pivotal role in ecosystem processes such as decomposition and carbon and nutrient cycling. Both saprotrophic (SP) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi occur throughout the upper soil horizons in coniferous forests and could therefore be exposed to high concentrations of monoterpenes occurring in the needle litter and roots of some tree species. Previous work has noted the differential effects of monoterpenes on the mycelial growth of a range of both SP and ECM fungi when grown in artificial nutrient media. This study used a novel experimental system to assess the effect of environmentally relevant concentrations of monoterpenes on the activity of ECM and SP fungi grown on more natural substrata. Exposure of the ECM fungus Paxillus involutus (Batsch) Fr. to vapours of either α-pinene or β-pinene resulted in a significantly greater proportion of root tips being colonised by the fungus when it was grown with seedlings of Picea abies (L.) Karst. Exposure to monoterpenes resulted in a significant decrease in respiration rate of two species of litter degrading SP fungi, Mycena galopus var. candida J. E. Lange and Collybia butyracea (Bull.) P. Kumm. There was no difference in response between the two SP species, despite the fact that previous tests in liquid nutrient media, with monoterpenes at higher concentrations, indicated that one species was sensitive and one was not. The high volatility and low solubility of monoterpenes in water make them challenging to work with. The experimental system developed here, although still artificial, provides a bridge between pure culture studies in defined media and all the complexities of forest soils in the field, by allowing the exposure of fungi to environmentally relevant monoterpene concentrations in more natural substrata.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	coniferous forest soils,decomposition,ectomycorrhizal fungi,fungal ecology,monoterpenes,saprotrophic fungi,symbiosis
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2017 01:46
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 02:22
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/62771
DOI:	10.1016/j.soilbio.2008.10.005

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