Fungi associated with soils collected beneath and between pinyon and juniper canopies in New Mexico

Authors

P. R. Fresquez, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Abstract

The soil fungal community beneath pinyon (Pinus edulis Engelm.) and one-seeded juniper (Juniperus monosperma [Engelm.] Sar.) tree canopies is described and compared with fungi from adjacent interspace soils dominated by blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis [H. B. K.] Lag.). Significantly higher organic matter contents and fungal propagule levels were found in soils beneath pinyon and juniper trees than in interspace soils. Soils under pinyon and juniper trees contained similar chemical, physical, and biological properties and, consequently, many groups of fungi in common (64% of the species isolated were common to both). In contrast soil fungi in adjacent interspace soils were vastly different from those collected in soils beneath pinyon and juniper canopies (44% and 48% species in common, respectively). Soil fungi that were isolated more often from pinyon-juniper soils than from interspace soils included Absidia sspp., Beauvaria spp., Gliocladium spp., Mucor spp., Penicillium cyclopium, P. fasciculata, P. frequentans, P. restrictum, Thamnidium spp., and Trichoderma spp. Soil fungi that were isolated more often in interspace soils than in pinyon or juniper soils included Aspergillus alutaceus spp., A. fumigatus, some Fusarium spp., Penicillium luteum, and P. talaromyces.

Recommended Citation

Fresquez, P. R. (1990) "Fungi associated with soils collected beneath and between pinyon and juniper canopies in New Mexico," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 50: No. 2, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol50/iss2/8