Diversity of ectomycorrhizae on experimentally planted Douglas-fir seedlings in variable retention forestry sites on southern Vancouver Island

Studies were done on Vancouver Island of ectomycorrhizal (EM) communities at four distances (5-45 m) from isolated forest patches in three second-growth (SG) and three old-growth (OG) Douglas-fir sites subject to variable retention harvesting. We tested the hypothesis that retention of mature trees enhances colonization and diversity of EM fungi on seedlings planted in adjacent areas. In total 41 EM morphotypes were described, with mean diversity of 3.47 morphotypes and root colonization of 62% per seedling. Overall, root colonization declined with distance (72% at 5 m vs. 52% at 45 m), as did EM diversity (4.7 at 5 m vs. 2.9 at 45 m). For individual sites, the distance effect was significant for root colonization at four sites and for EM diversity at three to four sites. This suggests that variable retention is important for the recovery of ectomycorrhizal biota in harvested sites. Seedling root colonization was significantly lower in SG sites than in OG sites. Though EM diversity did not differ with stand age, OG sites had potentially more total (34) and unique (14) EM morphotypes than did SG sites (total 27, unique 7). Differences with stand age might be related to the relative abilities of EM fungi to disperse to regenerating second-growth forests.