Effect of disturbance on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungal population in coastal sand dune vegetation of Goa, India

Abstract

A survey was conducted to study the occurrence and distribution of AM fungi in disturbed and un-disturbed coastal sand dunes of Goa. Eight plant species were found dominant at the un-disturbed site while seven were dominant at the disturbed site. Of these, only three plant species viz, Ipomoea pes-caprae, Cocos nucifera and Borassus flabellifer were common to both the sites. The study compares the spore density and diversity of AM fungi in disturbed and un-disturbed sand dunes. The average spore density and species richness were higher at un-disturbed site than at the disturbed site. In all, 27 AM fungal species were recorded from both the sites. Ten of the identified AM fungal species were commonly occurring at both the sites but their abundance drastically varied at the two sites.