Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities associated with wild plants in a coastal ecosystem

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form a near-ubiquitous mutualistic association with roots to help plants withstand harsh environments, and play a key role in the establishment of coastal beach plant communities. Yet little is known about the structure and composition of AMF communities on coastal beaches of eastern China. In this study, we investigated the occurrence, community composition and diversity of AMF associated with common wild plants on a coastal beach of North Jiangsu, China. Almost all of the local wild species were colonized by AMF except for Chenopodium album L. Thirty-seven AMF species were isolated from the rhizosphere belonging to 12 genera in seven families. Glomus was the dominant genus and Funneliformis mosseae the dominant species. The colonization, spore composition and diversity of AMF were strongly related to edaphic factors. Sodium (Na+) ions in the soil significantly and negatively affected the colonization rate by AMF and both soil Na+ levels and pH had a significant negative effect on AMF spore density and evenness. However, there was a significant positive correlation between species richness and total organic carbon. The results provide insights into soil factors affecting native AMF communities in coastal beach habitats which could benefit vegetation recovery and soil reclamation efforts.