Título del libro: Advances In Environmental Research
Título del capítulo: Deforestation of the tropical rain forest in Mexico: Consequences Of habitat fragmentation in community structure and function of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
FRANCISCO JAVIER ALVAREZ SANCHEZ; IRENE SANCHEZ GALLEN; JUAN CARLOS PEÑA BECERRIL;
Autores externos:
Idioma:
Inglés
Año de publicación:
2011
Palabras clave:
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Deforestation; Diversity; Tropical rain forest
Resumen:
Deforestation is the main cause of vegetation loss in the wet tropics and it is directly explained by land use changes from forest to agricultural or cattle ranch lands, due to social pressures that the local social actors exert. One immediate consequence of deforestation is habitat fragmentation. Nowadays, the tropical rain forest in Mexico is a fragmented landscape, which is characterized by remnants of original forest immersed into a matrix of cattle farming or crop areas. Most of native species loss inside the remnant forest fragments is a consequence of microenvironmental changes, mainly in the contact zone between the matrix of adverse conditions and the forest fragment. Several works have studied composition as well as community structure changes related to habitat fragmentation; however, very few have taken into account belowground organisms, even when their impacts on nutrient cycling, maintenance of plant diversity, plant performance are well known. One group of these important organisms are the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) that forms, together with plants, the arbuscular mycorrhiza which is a very conspicuous mutualistic association in humid tropics. Nevertheless, we ignore if fragmentation has altered AM fungi community structure and functionality; one hypothesis points out small fragments will retain less species than the larger ones, altering fungi-plant relationships. We have already found that AM fungi species richness, diversity, extraradical mycelium biomass and root colonization change according to land use and site disturbance levels. Inside the forest fragments, we have identified 44 species within seven genera and around 40% of them are shared among fragments of different sizes. However, fragment size does not explain AM fungi functionality, measured as their inoculum potential. When we explored the gradient along the contact zone between one of the largest fragments and the cattle ranch land, we find the highest AM fungi species richness and spore abundance in the middle of this border zone, and species composition changes are detected all along this environmental gradient. AM fungi community structure is not clearly related with plant diversity or species richness, but it seems that total nitrogen, pH, soil texture, and plant species richness are the most important factors that explain AM fungi composition. Our results highlight changes in AM fungi functionality in a fragmented landscape, but a great resistance to disturbance of AM fungi community, fundamental aspects to consider for explaining the impact that deforestation has in the tropical rain forest. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Entidades citadas de la UNAM:
ISBN:
9781621008590
Editorial:
Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Nombre de la publicación:
Deforestation of the tropical rain forest in Mexico: Consequences Of habitat fragmentation in community structure and function of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Página inicial:
249
Página final:
262
Tipo de producto:
Capítulo de un Libro
