Mycorrhizal Fungi In South America

In order to feed the world, global agriculture will have to double food production by 2050. As a result, the use of soils with fertilizers and pesticides in agronomic ecosystems will increase, taking into account the sustainability of these systems and also the provision of food security. Thus, soil ecosystems, their health, and their quality are directly involved in sustainable agronomical practices, and it is important to recognize the important role of soil microbial communities such as mycorrhizal fungi, their biodiversity, interactions, and functioning. Soil ecosystems are under the threat of biodiversity loss due to an increase of cultivated areas and agronomic exploitation intensity. Also, changes in land use alter the structure and function of ecosystems where biodiversity is vital in the ecosystem. Soils are a major aid in food production in all terrestrial ecosystems; however, this means they are also involved in gas emission and global warming. Thus, in agronomic ecosystems, several mitigation practices have been proposed to promote the increase of carbon soil stock, and the reduction of warming gas emission from soils. In South America, most of the rural population depends economically on agriculture and usually works in family units. New, organic, safe, and sustainable agro-forestry practices must be applied to support local communities and countries to achieve hunger eradication, rural poverty reduction, and sustainable development. This book compiles new information for mycorrhizal occurrence in natural and anthropic environments in South America. It includes new reports of mycorrhizal fungi diversity along different mycorrhizal types and their effect on plant communities, plant invasions, the use of mycorrhizal fungi for ecological and sustainable studies, management programs of natural and agroecosystems, and forestry and food-secure production. This book fills the gaps in biodiversity knowledge, management and safe food production of mycorrhizas. It should be a valuable help to researchers, professors and students, to aid in use of mycorrhizal fungi while also focusing on their biodiversity, sustainable safe food production, and conservation perspectives.

This new book shows the work done by researchers dedicated to the study of different mycorrhizas types, the fungal species associated and their distribution influenced by geographical and environmental factors among the different South American biogeographic regions. The exclusive biotic and abiotic characteristics delimit natural ecosystems with uniques biological communities, where mycorrhizologists have investigated plant symbioses in those ecosystems for decades, providing data from Venezuelan Great Savannah, Andes, Puna, Chaco, Caatinga, Monte, Atlantic Forest, Marginal Forest, Cerrado, Patagonia, Yungas, Rainforest, Andean-Patagonian Forests, and Antarctic section. In these environments, different mycorrhizal associations (arbuscular / ericoid / orchidoid / ectomycorrhizal / mycoheterotrophic) are present in herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. Mycorrhizal associations were studied from different researching points of view (biodiversity, biological invasions, biotic / abiotic disturbances, altitudinal variations, seasonal changes, land uses). The aim of this Book is to compile research on mycorrhizal fungi and their associations in environments of South America, throughout the synthesis of information from natural and anthropogenic related environments. The book focuses in different bioregions of South America from tropical areas to the southern cone, and it will be useful to those who work on plant-fungal interactions in different vegetation types and in agricultural lands from South America and worldwide.

This new book shows the work done by researchers dedicated to the study of different mycorrhizas types, the fungal species associated and their distribution influenced by geographical and environmental factors among the different South American biogeographic regions. The exclusive biotic and abiotic characteristics delimit natural ecosystems with uniques biological communities, where mycorrhizologists have investigated plant symbioses in those ecosystems for decades, providing data from Venezuelan Great Savannah, Andes, Puna, Chaco, Caatinga, Monte, Atlantic Forest, Marginal Forest, Cerrado, Patagonia, Yungas, Rainforest, Andean-Patagonian Forests, and Antarctic section. In these environments, different mycorrhizal associations (arbuscular / ericoid / orchidoid / ectomycorrhizal / mycoheterotrophic) are present in herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. Mycorrhizal associations were studied from different researching points of view (biodiversity, biological invasions, biotic / abiotic disturbances, altitudinal variations, seasonal changes, land uses). The aim of this Book is to compile research on mycorrhizal fungi and their associations in environments of South America, throughout the synthesis of information from natural and anthropogenic related environments. The book focuses in different bioregions of South America from tropical areas to the southern cone, and it will be useful to those who work on plant-fungal interactions in different vegetation types and in agricultural lands from South America and worldwide.

This book offers a timely overview and synthesis of biogeographic patterns of plants and fungi and their mycorrhizal associations across geographic scales. Written by leading experts in the field, it provides an updated definition of mycorrhizal types and establishes the best practices of modern biogeographic analyses. Individual chapters address the basic processes and mechanisms driving community ecology, population biology and dispersal in mycorrhizal fungi, which differ greatly from these of prokaryotes, plants and animals. Other chapters review the state-of-the-art knowledge about the distribution, ecology and biogeography of all mycorrhizal types and the most important fungal groups involved in mycorrhizal symbiosis. The book argues that molecular methods have revolutionized our understanding of the ecology and biogeography of mycorrhizal symbiosis and that rapidly evolving high-throughput identification and genomics tools will provide unprecedented information about the structure and functioning of mycorrhizal symbiosis on a global scale. This volume appeals to scientists in the fields of plant and fungal ecology and biogeography.

The proceedings book of the GSOBI21 contains all papers presented both orally and in poster format during the symposium. The papers have provided sufficient scientific evidence that the loss of soil biodiversity is a global threat, and shows the place we are standing on and where we need to go to prevent soil biodiversity loss and to reinforce knowledge about soil biodiversity.

Many plants benefit greatly from symbiotic relationship with soil fungi known as mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi live on and in the root systems of plants and provide nutrients to the plant in exchange for carbohydrates exuded by the plants. Some of the ecological uses of mycorrhizae include (i) enchancing plant growth and disease resistance (ii) improving transplant success (iii) building soil structure (iv) reducing fertilizer dependency and (v) accelerating revegetation of degraded lands. While over 80 percent of the terrestrial plants show mycorrhizal association, the depth of its application towards industries seems to be under-exploited. Moreover, severe deforestation and land degradation have removed the host plants from the habitats giving way to loss of diversity of the mycorrhizal fungi. Particularly, this problem is acute in the tropical region of the world, where various naturals calamities such as floods, landslides, fire, etc in addition to the human exploitation of natural resources have degraded the major part of the ecosystems. Although, causes are known, Strategies to rebuild the degraded systems remain bliss. There are many national and international journals that bring out the information about the mycorrhizal fungi and their symbiotic relationship with plants but the recent knowledge is almost in scattered state. This scattered information could be kept in a book to provide up-to-date information about mycorrhizal research especially being done in different corner of India. This book is a very selective monograph on mycorrhizae covering its different aspects. It is excellent collection of 21 articles dealing with different disciplines of mycorrhizae and mycorrhizal research carried out by Indian scientists. In order to consummate the collective ideas on mycorrhizal association, its diversity and applications, a number of themes have been identified for this book, including (i) Biodiversity and Ecological issues on mycorrhizal association (ii) Physiology and molecular biology of plant-mycorrhizal fungal interactions (iii) Potential industrial applications. It is doubtless to say that this book would be very useful to all scientists, teachers, students and readers whosoever in interested on mycology and mycological literature. Contents Chapter 1: Rhizoendomutualmycota (REMM): A New Phylum for the Farmers Friend Number One by S P Gautam and U S Patel; Chapter 2: Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in India by V S Mehrotra; Chapter 3: Diversity and Integration in Mycorrhizas: Meaning to Plant Ecology by Subhendu Chaudhuri and Birendranath Panja; Chapter 4: Mycorrhizal Biotechnology for Increasing Growth and Productivity of Fruit Plants by Pradeep B Patil and Chaya P Patil; Chapter 5: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis: An Overview of Research and Extension Needs by Mukesh K Meghvansi, K K Chaudhary and Kamal Prasad; Chapter 6: Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae: Modern Research Trends and Future Prospects by Ashok Aggarwal, Vipin Parkash, R S Mehrotra, Anil Gupta and Sunits Kaushish; Chapter 7: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Under the Dynamics of Rhizosphere by Shruti Chaturvedi, Nisha Verma and A K Sharma; Chapter 8: Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi Under the Dynamics of Rhizosphere by Shruti Chaturvedi, Nisha Verma and A K Sharma; Chapter 8: Arbuscular Mycorrhiza on Root-Organ Cultures by Nishi Mathur, Joginder Singh, Sachendra Bohra, Avinash Bohra and Anil Vyas; Chapter 9: Application of AM Technology for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils by Harbans Kaur Kehri, Nidhi Sharma and Varun Khare; Chapter 10: Mycorrhizal Technology in Revegetation Practices in India Thar Desert by Nishi Mathur, Joginder Singh, Sachendra Bohra, Avinash Bohra and Anil Vyas; Chapter 11: Approaches to Utilize Native Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Association for Improving P Nutrition in Upland Rice Under Rainfed Ecosystem by D Maiti, M K Barnwal, R K Singh and S K Rana; Chapter 12: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Forest Tree Seedling Production by T Muthukumar and K Udaiyan; Chapter 13: Reclamation of Saline Soils through Arbuscular Mycorrhizae by Sudhir Chandra, Anshu Tiwari and H K Kehri; Chapter 14: Role of Mycorrhizal Association in Growth of Forest Trees by Lakshmi Tewari, Salil K Tewari and Rajesh Kaushal; Chapter 15: Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza in Artinorhizal Plants and their Management Implications by Kiran Bargali and S S Bargali; Chapter 16: Methods for Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Research by Purshotam Kaushik and Supriya Gaur; Chapter 17: Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Kaumaun Region of India Central Himalaya by Bhaskar Chaurasia, Anita Pandey and Lok Man S Palni; Chapter 18: Effect of AM Fungi on the Growth and Nutrition Uptake in Some Endemic Myristicaceae Members of the Western Ghats, India by P Rama Bhat and K M Kaveriappa; Chapter 19: Diversity of AM Fungi in Some Endemic Members of Myristicaceae of the Western Ghats, India by P Rama Bhat and K M Kaveriappa; Chapter 20: Role of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (Glomus aggregatum) Fungi on Plant Growth Promotion in Chickpea by Daljeet Singh and R S Singh; Chapter 21: Mycrorrhiza for Growth Enhancement and Pathogen Suppression in Black Pepper.

This book focuses on an overview of new advances in mycorrhizal fungi, especially arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The book contains chapters on mycorrhizal fungi populations in mangroves, the growth of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, mycorrhization of pears in in vitro culture conditions, mycorrhizal mineralization of nutrients, mycorrhizal roles in improving soil health, the benefits of synergistic application of biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and the ecological functions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (invasive plant control, mycorrhizal remediation of soil pollution, and mycorrhizal farm management systems). This book can provide theoretical as well as technical support for researchers working on mycorrhizal fungi, and also provide ideas for new research on mycorrhizal fungi in the future.