Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Facilitate Competitive Interactions Between Tree Taxa: Host Preference, Seedling Recruitment, and Forest Succession by Gwendolyn C. Williams Department of Biology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Rytas Vilgalys, Supervisor ___________________________ Paul Manos ___________________________ Daniel Richter ____________________...

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal composition was examined in a Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. forest. A total of 28 root samples of P. tabulaeformis were collected in June and September. Thirty-five ECM morphotypes were identified according to ECM morphological characters, and 26 ECM fungi were identified based on the analyses of ITS-RFLP and ITS sequences. Tomentella, Sebacina, and Tuber were common ge...

Myco-heterotrophy is one of the longest-studied aspects of the mycorrhizal symbiosis, but there remain many critical, unanswered questions regarding the ecology and physiology of myco-heterotrophic plants and their associated fungi. The vast majority of all myco-heterotrophs studied to date have exhibited specificity towards narrow lineages of fungi, but it is unclear whether the loss of photos...

Introduction 3TRV \0 A method was developed to manipulate available soil water on large trees by intercepting thrufall with gutters placed under tree canopies and irrigating the intercepted thrufall onto other trees. With this design, trees were exposed for 2 years to either 25 percent less thrufall, normal thrufall, or 25 percent additional thrufall. Undercanopy construction in these plots mod...

ferent species of fungi having very different physiologies and morphologies that, in turn, confer a range of different benefits to the host plant. To test the hypothesis that elevated CO2 leads to changes in the assemblage of ectomycorrhizae associated with trees, we examined the number and frequency of ectomycorrhizal morphotypes colonizing roots of Betula papyrifera Marsh. saplings grown at a...