%0 Journal Article %A Lu PAN %A Pu MOU %A Shang-Bin BAI %A Mu GU %T Impact of Phyllostachys heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ expansion on mycorrhizal associations of the adjacent forests %D 2015 %R 10.17521/cjpe.2015.0036 %J Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology %P 371-382 %V 39 %N 4 %X <i>Aims</i>

Phyllostachys heterocycla ‘Pubescens’, through its unique growth feature, is easy to encroach on, and replace surrounding evergreen broad-leaved forests or coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests rapidly. The expansion leads to coniferous and broadleaved tree species withering and dying gradually, and inhibits the forest regeneration. Mycorrhizal weakening hypothesis suggests that expansion of P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ would interrupt the original mycorrhizal associations and causes the subsequence dieback of the forests. This study was to investigate the changes of mycorrhiza along a bamboo forest, bamboo-forest transition, mixed forest transect to examine the hypothesis.

<i>Methods</i>

A transect, perpendicular to the bamboo expansion direction, went through P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ forest (PPF), bamboo-forest transition (BFT), coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest (CBF), and were sampled in the Tianmu Mountain National Reserve, Zhejiang Province. Six dominant tree and shrub species (Cunninghamia lanceolata, Liquidambar formosana, Cyclobalanopsis glauca, Cryptomeria fortune, Lindera chienii, Camellia fraterna) existing in both CBF and BFT, were chosen for collecting their root tips for measuring the frequency and intensity of arbuscular mycorrizal (AM) colonization for AM species, and frequency of ectomycorrhizal (EM) colonization for EM species. The AM colonization frequency and intensity of P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ in PPF and BFT were also measured and compared.

<i>Important findings</i>

1) Before and during the encroachment of P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’, frequency of the mycorrhizal fungi root colonization of the six tree species were very high (>95%), and there was no significant difference between CBF and BFT (p > 0.1); 2) In BFT, intensity of the AM fungi root colonization of Cunninghamia lanceolata and Liquidambar formosana increased significantly than those in CBF (p < 0.1); 3) The frequency and intensity of the AM fungi root colonization of P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ were much lower than any other tree species, with no significant change during the expansion. The findings reject the mycorrhizal weakening hypothesis i.e., P. heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ realizing its population expansion and replacing surrounding forests IS NOT caused by destructing mycorrhizal associations of adjacent forests.

%U https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2015.0036