Enumerating Indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) Associated with Three Permanent Preservation Plots of Tropical Forests in Bangalore, Karnataka, India

The establishment of Permanent Preservation Plots (PPPs) in natural forests has a significant role in assessing the impact of climate change on forests. To pursue long-term studies on climate change, it was decided to establish PPPs in two major forest areas in Bengaluru to conduct ecological studies to monitor the vegetation changes in the year 2016. One of the objectives of the study was to understand drivers of diversity, such as soils, in terms of nutrients and physical and biological properties. The native tropical forest of Bengaluru, which houses Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) on the outskirts, is relatively underexplored in terms of its microflora, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Hence, the present study aimed at the quantitative estimation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in three PPPs, each one hectare in size, which were established in Bannerughatta National Park (BNP) and Doresanipalya Reserve Forest (DRF) following the Centre for Tropical Forest Sciences (CTFS) protocol. In BNP, two plots, one in the Thalewood house area (mixed, moist, deciduous type) and the other in the Bugurikallu area (dry, deciduous type), were established. In DRF, there was one plot of the dry, deciduous type. Each one-hectare plot (100 m × 100 m) was subdivided into twenty-five sub-plots (20 m × 20 m), and the composite soil samples collected during two seasons (dry and wet) were analyzed for AMF spore and available phosphorus (P) content. The results revealed the presence of AMF in all the three plots, recording higher spore numbers in the Doresanipalya plot, followed by the Bugurikallu plot and the Thalewood house plot. The available phosphorous and AMF spore numbers showed correlations in all the three plots. Among the AMF spores, the Glomus species was found to dominate in all the three plots. The study shows that the dry, deciduous forests accommodated more AMF spores than the mixed, moist forests.