There is a scarcity of published information on the abundance and richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in natural and semi-natural landuse types in Sri Lanka. The Upper Hantana (UH) area, which comprises landuse types with different histories, was selected to fulfill this knowledge gap. A study was carried out to investigate the abundance and richness of AMF in selected landuse types, including restored pine stand (REP), degraded grassland (DEG), Paraserianthes stand (PST) and natural forest patch (NFP) at Upper Hantana in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The highest AMF spore abundance was observed in the NFP. However, the AMF spore richness was higher in both NFP and REP than in DEG and PST. At NFP, the medium-sized spores dominate the AMF spore population. Furthermore, NFP showed the least evenness in AMF distribution compared to other landuse types. Glomus was the most abundant genus in all selected landuse types. Acaulospora was observed only in DEG and PST. The colonization potential of AMF varies highly between species and selected landuse types, with no clear relationship between AMF abundance and root colonization potential. The results speculate that AMF spore abundance is determined by the composition and diversity of the vegetation. The results also revealed that the AMF richness at REP was similar to that of NFP, indicating a positive impact on the below-ground biota within a relatively short period following restoration.

Tropical Moist Evergreen forests (TMEF) are the major forest type in the Intermediate Climatic Zone of Sri Lanka. Some of these forests are heavily dominated by a native bamboo species, Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss. altering the hierarchical status and structure. The study evaluated whether the overabundance of B. bambos has modified the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities in soil. Soil samples collected from bamboo-dominated (BM) and non-bamboo (NB) forest patches in three different locations viz., Moragolla, Maragomuwa and Galboda, were enumerated forAMF spores using wet sieving and decanting method. A total of 1,577 and 898 AMF spores were documented from BM and NB forest patches, respectively. A total of 14 different morphotypes belonged to the genera, Glomus, Scutellospora, Gigaspora and Acaulospora, were identified. Glomus was the dominant genus in all study sites, while Acaulospora the least. The mean abundance and richness of AMF spores were higher in BM than in NB, with the most notable difference observed at Maragomuwa. The site-specific variations may perhaps due to the differences in vegetation characteristics, edaphic properties and disturbance regimes. However, the community structure of AMF showed no conspicuous modifications due to the overabundance of B. bambos. The findings reiterated the general understanding that any changes to the above-ground vegetation may incur impacts on the AMF. However, AMF community structure shows resilience to influences imposed by the dominance of a single species.