The development of arbuscular mycorrhiza in two simulated stages of spoil-bank succession

A greenhouse experiment based on a dual mode of mycorrhizal inoculation simulated the formation of mycorrhizal symbiosis at two different stages of plant succession on coalmine spoil banks. The model plants were inoculated either with propagules of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) Glomus mosseae BEG95, which represented the initial stages of succession, or were provided with the pre-established extraradical mycelium (ERM) network of the same AMF isolate, which simulated later succession stages. The plant species used – non-mycotrophic Atriplex sagittata and Sisymbrium loeselii, and mycotrophic Tripleurospermum inodorum, Calamagrostis epigejos and Elytrigia repens – represented succession dominants at those sites. Even though the grasses were colonised in both mycorrhizal treatments, the presence of an established ERM network increased the intensity of their colonisation and arbuscular abundance. No trace of colonisation of non-mycotrophic plants was found in the treatment inoculated with propagules. Surprisingly, marked colonisation, including abundant arbuscules, was observed when non-mycotrophic plants were grown in the presence of a pre-established ERM network. In A. sagittata, arbuscules were found at maturity and senescence of the plants after 16 weeks of growth. In S. loeselii, however, the arbuscules were found at the vegetative stage of the leaf rosette after 8 weeks and then completely disappeared during the following weeks. When the ability of propagules and ERM to induce mycorrhizal colonisation is compared, it seems that the established mycelium probably has an enhanced potential to colonise roots of plants, even if the plants belong to species usually not hosting mycorrhizal fungi.