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Monotropastrum humile var. humile is associated with diverse ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae fungi in Japanese forests

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Monotropastrum humile is nearly lacking in chlorophyll and obtains its nutrients, including carbon sources, from associated mycorrhizal fungi. We analyzed the mycorrhizal fungal affinity and species diversity of M. humile var. humile mycorrhizae to clarify how the plant population survives in Japanese forest ecosystems. We classified 78 samples of adult M. humile var. humile individuals from Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyusyu Islands into 37 root mycorrhizal morphotypes. Of these, we identified 24 types as Russula or Lactarius fungal taxa in the Russulaceae, Basidiomycetes, but we could not identify the remaining 13 types as to their genus in the Basidiomycetes. The number of fungal species on M. humile var. humile was the highest in the plant subfamily. The diversity of fungal species revealed its increased trends in natural forests at the stand level, fagaceous vegetation, and cool-temperate climate. The most frequently observed fungus colonized mainly samples collected from sub-alpine forests; the second most frequently observed fungus colonized samples collected from sub-alpine to warm-temperate forests. These results suggest that Japanese M. humile populations are associated with specific but diverse fungi that are common ectomycorrhizal symbionts of various forest canopy trees, indicating a tripartite mycorrhizal relationship in the forest ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to T. Hosoda, A. Imamura, S. Hasegawa, J. Matsumoto, H. Shiroyama, T. Sawahata, and the late K. Kasai for providing M. humile samples. This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid (Nos. 14104006 and 19651099) to A. Yamada and N. Matsushita from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minami-minowa, Nagano, Japan

    Akiyoshi Yamada, Daisei Kitamura, Masanobu Setoguchi & Masaki Fukuda

  2. Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University, Tsu, Japan

    Yosuke Matsuda

  3. Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan

    Yasushi Hashimoto

  4. Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Norihisa Matsushita

Authors
  1. Akiyoshi Yamada
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  2. Daisei Kitamura
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  3. Masanobu Setoguchi
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  4. Yosuke Matsuda
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  5. Yasushi Hashimoto
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  6. Norihisa Matsushita
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  7. Masaki Fukuda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akiyoshi Yamada.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 5 List of Monotropastrum humile var. humile samples
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Appendix 2

Table 6 Characteristics of the mycorrhizal morphotypes of Monotropastrum humile var. humile
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Yamada, A., Kitamura, D., Setoguchi, M. et al. Monotropastrum humile var. humile is associated with diverse ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae fungi in Japanese forests. Ecol Res 23, 983–993 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0463-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0463-7

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