Dependency on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and responsiveness of some Brazilian native woody species

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) associations are of great importance in forest ecology and land rehabilitation in the tropics, but information on AM susceptibility, host dependence, and host responsiveness to the fungi is scarce. The present study was carried out under greenhouse conditions in a low-fertility soil with 29 woody species. There were very large differences between plant species in AM colonization, responsiveness to inoculation, mycorrhizal dependency and efficiency of phosphorus (P) uptake. All of these parameters were influenced by available soil P in solution. AM colonization ranged from zero in several non-mycotrophic species to > 60% in the highly mycotrophic ones. Ten species (34% of the total) were found to be mycorrhiza-independent or non-mycotrophic, whereas the rest were highly to very highly dependent. The level of P above which there was no AM effect, defined here as the T' value, allowed distinction between AM dependence and responsiveness of the host and was very efficient for separating species according to these traits. Mycorrhizal responsiveness and dependency were not related and some species were responsive to increased P in the soil solution only when mycorrhizal. Efficiency of P uptake was affected by AM and by P levels. Some species exhibited a high efficiency independent of AM, while others were very inefficient even at high P. Despite differences between species, in most cases AM growth enhancement was nutritionally mediated. Differences in AM responsiveness and dependency as well as the importance of these concepts for reforestation technology in the tropics are discussed.