A survey of root-associated fungal communities on Svalbard

Mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi mediate nutrient acquisition for the majority of land plants. Mycorrhizal fungi release, absorb and transfer inorganic nutrients and water from the external environment into the plants and in return receive photosynthates. Ec tomycorrhizal symbiosis (ECM) is mutualistic associations between higher fungi and Gymnosperms or Angiosperms. The ECM association is especially important when it comes to the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorous for the plant, and the fungi forming these a ssociations are species rich and phylogenetically diverse. Arctic environments are characterized by little precipitation and low nutrient availability in the soil. It has been estimated that as much as 61-86 % of the plants nitrogen in the arctic is provi ded by the fungal mycorrhizal partners. In the High Arctic archipelago Svalbard only three of the most common plant species are known to form ectomycorrhiza, however it is suspected that more do. Still, many of these plants apparently survive without myco rrhiza. However, all plant host diverse communities of fungal endophytes, including dark septated root endophytes. In this project we want to pursue a study by Väre et al. from 1992, where the aim was to reveal the mycorrhizal status of higher plants at S valbard, and also include the higher plants found at Jan Mayen. They investigated the root systems of over 70 plant species. For example, Väre et al. found the perennial herb Bistorta vivipara to be non-mycorrhizal, whereas numerous other studies have ide ntified it as ectomycorrhizal and characterized its fungal partners. Jan Mayen is an isolated island, located approximately 600 km northeast from Iceland and 500 km east of Greenland. The funga of Jan Mayen is poorly studied, and we know little to none of the root-associated fungi on the island. We aim to identify the root-associated fungal communities of the most common plant species occurring on Svalbard and Jan Mayen.