Pacific Southwest

Title: Biodiversity of mycorrhizas on Garry oak (Quercus garryana) in a southern Oregon savanna

Author: Valentine, Lori L.; Fiedler, Tina L.; Haney, Stephen R.; Berninghausen, Harold K.; Southworth, Darlene

Date: 2002

Source: In: Standiford, Richard B., et al, tech. editor. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California's Challenging Landscape. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 151-157

Station ID: GTR-PSW-184

Description: Garry oak or Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) is the dominant vegetation on the Whetstone Savanna in Jackson County, Oregon. The site is located on the western edge of the Agate Desert, an alluvial fan capped with shallow clay loam over a cemented hardpan. The landform exhibits patterned ground with mounds and vernal pools. The oaks are associated with buck brush (Ceanothus cuneatus) and with native and exotic grasses. In preparation for a study of the biocomplexity of common mycorrhizal networks among oaks and grasses, we examined the mycorrhizal morphotypes on Garry oak. We sampled soil cores at distances half way to the canopy edge, at the canopy edge, and outside the canopy and have identified over 40 ectomycorrhizal morphotypes including Cenococcum geophilum. Infection rates on oak roots were lowest on trees growing in or near vernal pools and highest on oaks growing in groves with closed canopies. Using the fungal specific primers ITS1-F and ITS4 and the restriction enzymes HinfI and TaqI, we amplified DNA via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to compare ectomycorrhizal morphotypes. Small differences in mycorrhizal morphology correlated with differences in restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns, suggesting that there were many different species. We also observed the unusual occurrence of endomycorrhizas with intraradical hyphae and vesicles in oak roots.

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Citation

Valentine, Lori L.; Fiedler, Tina L.; Haney, Stephen R.; Berninghausen, Harold K.; Southworth, Darlene  2002.  Biodiversity of mycorrhizas on Garry oak (Quercus garryana) in a southern Oregon savanna.   In: Standiford, Richard B., et al, tech. editor. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California's Challenging Landscape. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 151-157.