Ectomycorrhizal fungi and the nitrogen economy of in southern Patagonia.

Subantarctic forests are the southernmost forests in the world, with negligible atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Most paradigms about the role of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi in N cycling and plant N uptake at high latitudes have been tested in boreal coniferous forests, while in the southern hemisphere, ECM hosts are primarily angiosperms. Using ITS1 meta-barcoding, we characterized ECM and saprotrophic fungal communities in evergreen and deciduous forests forming monodominant and mixed stands in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego (Chile and Argentina).

Ectomycorrhizal fungi and soil enzymes exhibit contrasting patterns along elevation gradients in southern Patagonia.

The biological and functional diversity of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations remain largely unknown in South America. In Patagonia, the ECM tree Nothofagus pumilio forms monospecific forests along mountain slopes without confounding effects of vegetation on plant-fungi interactions. To determine how fungal diversity and function are linked to elevation, we characterized fungal communities, edaphic variables, and eight extracellular enzyme activities along six elevation transects in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile).

Analysis of nodulation kinetics in Frankia-Discaria trinervis symbiosis reveals different factors involved in the nodulation process.

The induction of root nodule development in actinorhizal symbiosis would depend on the concentration of factors produced by the bacteria and the plant. A detailed analysis of nodulation description parameters revealed different factors related to the nodulation process. The initial time for nodulation (t(0)), the initial nodulation rate (v(0)) and the total time of nodule development (t(NOD)) were defined and consequently quantified in different experimental conditions: co-inoculation of Discaria trinervis with increasing concentrations of different non-infective bacteria together with the full compatible infective Frankia strain (the indicator strain) used at a limiting concentration or by changing plant factor(s) concentration.