Land-Use Type is a Driver of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Eastern Washington Prairies
Faculty Mentor
Robin O'Quinn
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-7-2025 9:00 AM
End Date
5-7-2025 11:00 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Biology
Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), belonging to the phylum Glomeromycota, are key to healthy, functioning terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Associating with over 80% of all extant land plants, they play a pivotal role in nutrient cycling, contribute to overall plant health, and as such, are critical to the successful restoration of Eastern Washington’s native prairies. However, AMF community composition is significantly altered by commercial agricultural practices used extensively in this region for over 100 years. The Eastern Washington University (EWU) Prairie Restoration Project aims to restore ~120 acres of farmland to native prairie. This research will provide insight into the diversity of AMF communities in the region compared to our site. We collected soil and root samples from a total of 37 sites across four distinct prairie land-use types: remnant native prairies (n=9), Conservation Reserve Program (n=10) lands, conventional-till farmland (n=11), and no-till farmland (n=7). AMF DNA extracted from soil and root samples was amplified using an AMF-specific primer pair and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform using 300bp paired-end sequencing. Taxonomy for the recovered AMF lineages was assigned in QIIME2 using the MaarjAM database. Preliminary analyses show that the community composition of AMF is significantly different across land-use types.
Recommended Citation
Cole, Katherine I. and O'Quinn, Robin, "Land-Use Type is a Driver of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Eastern Washington Prairies" (2025). 2025 Symposium. 29.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2025/ps_2025/p1_2025/29
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Land-Use Type is a Driver of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Eastern Washington Prairies
PUB NCR
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), belonging to the phylum Glomeromycota, are key to healthy, functioning terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Associating with over 80% of all extant land plants, they play a pivotal role in nutrient cycling, contribute to overall plant health, and as such, are critical to the successful restoration of Eastern Washington’s native prairies. However, AMF community composition is significantly altered by commercial agricultural practices used extensively in this region for over 100 years. The Eastern Washington University (EWU) Prairie Restoration Project aims to restore ~120 acres of farmland to native prairie. This research will provide insight into the diversity of AMF communities in the region compared to our site. We collected soil and root samples from a total of 37 sites across four distinct prairie land-use types: remnant native prairies (n=9), Conservation Reserve Program (n=10) lands, conventional-till farmland (n=11), and no-till farmland (n=7). AMF DNA extracted from soil and root samples was amplified using an AMF-specific primer pair and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform using 300bp paired-end sequencing. Taxonomy for the recovered AMF lineages was assigned in QIIME2 using the MaarjAM database. Preliminary analyses show that the community composition of AMF is significantly different across land-use types.
