Enumerating Indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) Associated with Three Permanent Preservation Plots of Tropical Forests in Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Abstract

The establishment of Permanent Preservation Plots (PPPs) in natural forests has a signifi-cant role in assessing the impact of climate change on forests. To pursue long-term studies on cli-mate change, PPPs were established during the year 2016 in two major forest areas in Bangalore to conduct ecological studies to monitor the vegetation changes. One of the objectives of the study was to understand the drivers of diversity, such as soils, in terms of nutrients and physical and biological properties. The native tropical forest of Bangalore, which houses Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) on the outskirts, is relatively underexplored in terms of its microflora, particularly arbuscular my-corrhizal fungi (AMF). Hence, the present study was aimed at the quantitative estimation of arbus-cular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the three 1-ha PPPs which were established in Bannerughatta National Park (BNP) and Doresanipalya Reserve Forest (DRF) as per the Centre for Tropical Forest Sciences (CTFS) protocol. In BNP, two plots were established, one in the Thalewood house area (mixed, moist, deciduous type) and the other in the Bugurikallu area (dry, deciduous type). In DRF, one plot was established in dry, deciduous vegetation. Each one-hectare plot (100 m × 100 m) was subdivided into twenty-five sub-plots (20 m × 20 m). Composite soil samples were collected during two seasons (dry and wet) and analyzed for AMF spore and available phosphorus (P) content. The results revealed the presence of AMF in all the three plots. Doresanipalya plo had the highest spore number, followed by the Bugurikallu plot and Thalewood house plot. The available phosphorous and AMF spore numbers showed correlations in all the three plots. Among the AMF spores, the Glomus species was found to dominate in all the three plots. The study shows that the dry, decidu-ous forests accommodated more AMF spores than the mixed, moist forests.