Colonization of new land by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

How do arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi travel?

“…AM fungi produce asexual soil‐borne spores as specific dispersal propagules, but they may also disperse via soil‐borne mycelial fragments and colonized plant root fragments (Smith & Read, ). Spores represent the main studied dispersal propagule type (Mangan & Adler, ; Lekberg et al ., ; Nielsen et al ., ), and were also a focus of Correia et al .'s study. However, given that c .…”

“…Besides, AM fungal propagules are known to survive and retain root‐colonizing ability after passing through animal digestive systems, either as spores (Mangan & Adler, ) or as hyphae (intra‐ or extra‐radical; Fracchia et al ., ). There are reports of short‐distance dispersal of AM fungi by animals; including invertebrates (Harinikumar & Bagyaraj, ), birds (Nielsen et al ., ), rodents (Mangan & Adler, ) and large ungulates (Lekberg et al ., ). However, less is known about long‐distance biotic dispersal, with only indirect evidence suggesting a potential role of migratory animals (Lekberg et al ., ; Nielsen et al ., ) and humans (Rosendahl et al ., ).…”

“…There are reports of short‐distance dispersal of AM fungi by animals; including invertebrates (Harinikumar & Bagyaraj, ), birds (Nielsen et al ., ), rodents (Mangan & Adler, ) and large ungulates (Lekberg et al ., ). However, less is known about long‐distance biotic dispersal, with only indirect evidence suggesting a potential role of migratory animals (Lekberg et al ., ; Nielsen et al ., ) and humans (Rosendahl et al ., ). Although Correia et al . did not directly address dispersal distances, their finding that migratory birds are endozoochorous co‐dispersers of AM fungi and plants strongly suggests that birds may represent long‐distance dispersal vectors for these organisms.…”

“…Yet, recent studies have shown that many AM fungi exhibit cosmopolitan distributions, suggesting that long‐distance dispersal mechanisms operate within the group (Davison et al ., , ). Although there is evidence for multiple potential dispersal vectors for AM fungi – both abiotic (water and air/wind; Harner et al ., ; Egan et al ., ) and biotic (animals, including humans; Mangan & Adler, ; Rosendahl et al ., ; Lekberg et al ., ; Nielsen et al ., ) – there has been no direct evidence of long‐distance dispersal until now. In this issue of New Phytologist , Correia et al . (pp.…”

The U.S. Culture Collection Network Responding to the Requirements of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing

“…Other collections are public repositories that focus on a target species or clades of organisms (14). Microbial and algal collections uniquely deal with genetic resources that may transcend geopolitical divisions because they are dispersed by wind (15,16) or water currents (17). Most of these collections were established prior to and grew without anticipating the requirements of international treaties.…”