Spore Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Upo Wetland

We extracted arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) spores from rhizospheres of three plants from Upo Wetland, Korea. We identified the isolated AMF spores based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of partial 18S rDNA nucleotide sequences. The species diversity of AMF spores was calculated among the study sites and host plants. Consequently, nine species from six genera of AMF spores were identified. We confirmed the species diversity of the AMF spores in rhizospheres affected by host plants in the wetland. In the course of this study, we confirmed a previously unreported AMF species in Korea: Diversispora epigaea. We described the morphological features and molecular characteristics of this previously unreported AMF species.