Mycorrhizas of the Dominant Species in Four Plant Communities of Chebaling National Nature Reserve

Mycorrhizal associations of twenty plant species in four different plant communities of the Chebaling National Nature Reserve were investigated in the summer from 1995 to 1998. Except for two species (Dicranopteris linearis and Diospyros tsangii), eighteen species examined were associated with either vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM) or ectomycorrhiza (ECM). Four species of Fagaceae and Pinus massoniana were consistently associated with ECM while other thirteen species were associated with VAM. The fruiting bodies of ectomycorrhizal fungi were abundant and diverse in intact forest dominated by Fagaceae. Only a few species of macrofungal bodies were found in the pine dominated forest and secondary broad-leaved forest and none were seen in grassland during the study. VAM spore density was generally lower in the grassland than other community types. It is possibly due to degradation in floristic composition and soil fertility.