Mycorrhizal fungi associated with Festuca in the western United States and Canada
Vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal infection and associated mycorrhizal fungi were examined for Festuca viridula, Festuca idahoensis, Festuca scabrella, Festuca thurberi, Festuca ovina, and Festuca arizonica occurring in Festuca-dominated grasslands in the western United States and Canada. All plants were mycorrhizal. Nearly all had mycorrhizal infection in 75% or more of their fine root length. Although levels of infection were consistently high, spore numbers were generally low. No differences in the degree of infection between Festuca species or habitats were observed.Eleven mycorrhizal fungi were identified and ranked by decreasing frequency as follows: Glomus fasciculatus, Glomus tenuis, Gigaspora calospora, Acaulospora laevis, Glomus macrocarpus var. macrocarpus, Glomus microcarpus, Acaulospora scrobiculata, Glomus mosseae, Glomus macrocarpus var. geosporus, Sclerocystis rubiformis, and an unidentified Acaulospora species. It was common to find two or more species infecting an individual plant. The mean number of fungal associates per community site ranged from 2.7 species for F. idahoensis to 5.0 species for F. arizonica. We found no evidence for specificity of any of the mycorrhizal fungi for any particular Festuca host.