Abstract
Boreal forest soils are reservoirs of enormous biodiversity and contain diverse communities of ectomycorrhizal fungi that contribute to the uptake and transfer of different nutrients to their tree hosts and to sequestration of carbon. However the biodiversity of these organisms is affected by additions of nutrients designed to stimulate tree growth. Negative effects on dominant species are often recorded in relation to large single doses of fertiliser and are usually attributed to reduced allocation of photoassimilates belowground, in favour of increased shoot growth. Results obtained in our lab using conventional (fruit body inventories) and first generation molecular methods suggest that mycorrhizal communities ´recover´ from fertilisation with time as soil nitrogen levels are depleted, but we have no information about overall levels of diversity, or of the importance of landscape level effects involving migration from surrounding, unfertilised forests. In this project we will use second generation molecular methods (454-pyrosequencing) to gain a more complete picture of the dynamic interactions between ´natural´ biological diversity and artificial stimulation of forest growth using different fertiliser applications. The resulting knowledge should enable a more sustainable management of Swedish forests optimising the balance between the dual goals of production and maintenance of biological diversity.
Sweden