Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Horticulture

Committee Chair

Daniel Panaccione.

Abstract

I analyzed community structure of ectomycorrhizal fungi on white pine (Pinus strobus) on two reclaimed surface mines in eastern Ohio. One site was acidic and metal-stressed, the other was alkaline. Completely different community composition was found on the two sites by PCR/ITS/RFLP analyses of field collected mycorrhizae. However, Shannon-Wiener index values indicated that the two communities were equally diverse. A population of isolates of one species common to both sites was obtained from trap cultures planted with white pine. The identity of this species as Wilcoxina mikolae was established through DNA sequencing of the ITS region. The W. mikolae populations were further evaluated with in vitro studies determining the affects of aluminum and pH. No clear differences between the two populations in response to aluminum and pH could be defined due to variation among isolates within populations. AFLP analysis showed that the populations from the two sites were genetically similar.

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