Mycorrhizal Fungi Essay

The mycorrhizal associations are always being described with the term symbiotic and mutualistic. (Brundrett, 2004). The root, the internal fungal structure and the external mycelium in the soil are the main characteristics of AM fungi (Heijden & Sanders, 2002). Endomycorrhizal symbiosis was given the name arbuscular because of distinguish arrangement formed in the symbiotic root. Arbuscules are complex branched of fungal hyphae enveloped by possibly modified, invaginated plant plasma membranes that form inside the cortical cells. The fungus does not disturb the plant cell cytoplasm. Most of the land plants have AM symbiosis with the members of fungal order Glomales. Within the root, there are two morphological forms of AM colonization, namely the “Arum” and “Paris” types (Barker, Tagu, & Delp, 1998). Plant that has a fungus can be called as a host whether the association is beneficial or not. Many terms such as symbiont, associate, mycobiont and inhabitant can be used to label mycorrhizal fungi inside the plants, but it is just acceptable to address them as fungi (Brundrett, 2004).

2.2 The Role of Mycorrhizal Fungi The seedlings of many rain forest species are mycotrophic and their

Historically, terrestrial habitats used to be in rigid environments, lacking in organic matter and nutrients and were not favourable to plants with primitive root system. AM fungi were important for the successful invasion of plants onto land. Fungi, with their nutrient scavenging hyphae, were able to obtain nutrient better. Today’s terrestrial ecosystem are more favourable to plant invasion, but AM fungi remain to be involved in the ecosystem processes which are the the Carbon and Phosphorus cycles. The part of AM fungi in ecosystem is obvious, but the implication of AM fungi biodiversity on ecosystem-level measures is less arguable (Heijden & Sanders,