Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are well-known contributors to soil aggregation and nutrient cycling functions, but we still know little about their capacity to resist or recover from persistent disturbance. Rangeland management may deteriorate these functions by affecting the activity of soil biota, including AM fungi, among other consequences. If affected, some soil properties show recovery when management stops and natural regeneration is allowed. We conducted an experiment to evaluate if the functions related to soil aggregation and promotion of exocellular enzymatic activities associated with AM fungal communities had been affected by rangeland management and, if they had, whether they recovered with successional time when management stopped.
We explored the resilience of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities of a tropical dry forest ecosystem to land use as pastures. We compared spore community species richness, composition, abundance, and similarity between old-growth forests and active pastures, as a measure of resistance and examined the trajectory of change in successional fields when pasture use stopped to evaluate re- covery. Despite a few changes in species richness, community composition and structure were strikingly similar in all sites, including the active pastures.
Los saltamontes son una plaga importante del maíz, uno de sus enemigos naturales son los hongos entomopatógenos (HEP). El manejo adecuado de este cultivo, que involucre cambios en el microhábitat puede contribuir al control de las poblaciones de saltamontes, así como la presencia de sus enemigos naturales. Se evaluó el efecto de dos tipos de manejo agrícola: monocultivo (MC-I) de maíz y policultivo de maíz, calabaza y frijol (PC-I), así como de la vegetación de los márgenes del monocultivo (VMM) y la vegetación de los márgenes del policultivo (VMP), sobre la riqueza y abundancia de saltamontes y sus hongos entomopatógenos (HEP) asociados en Erongarícuaro, Michoacán.