Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in arid zones in northwestern China
西北干旱区AM真菌多样性研究

In order to understand the distribution pattern of the resources of arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM)fungi in arid zones in northwestern China,we investigated AM fungal diversity in five vegetation types:de-sert,grassland,forest,meadow,and oasis farmland.Forty AM fungal species belonging to six genera were identified from the rhizospheres of 60 plant species.Of these fungi,35 were identified to species and five were identified to genus.Glomus claroideum was the dominant species throughout the sampling area,but the occurrence and distribution pattern of AM fungi in the five vegetation types were quite different.Entro-phospora was only observed in desert while Paraglomus was found in oasis farmland and desert,Archaeo-spora existed in grassland,desert and oasis farmland,and Scutellospora existed in meadow,forest and grass-land.The biodiversity index in oasis farmland and meadow were higher than other vegetation types,indicat-ing soil moisture may be the most important factor affecting the distribution of AM fungi in arid zones.