Rita Verma

Address

LMU Department für Biologie
Systematische Botanik und Mykologie
Menzinger Straße 67
80638 München
Germany

Contact

Fon:	+49 89 17861-236
Fax:	+49 89 172638
Email:
Room:	137, first floor

Documents

Publications
Curriculum Vitae

Current Ph.D. project

Diversity and Ecology of Ectomycorrhizae in Bistorta vivipara (L). Delarbre (Polygonaceae)

Ectomycorrhizae (ECM) are usually formed by woody plants. In the northern hemisphere these trees and shrubs belong mainly to the families Pinaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, and Salicaceae. There are, however, also a few herbaceous plant species known to form this type of symbiosis.

The arctic-alpine perennial Bistorta vivipara (L). Delarbre (Polygonaceae) is one of them, occurring frequently in North America, Europe and Asia. Although reports about ectomycorrhizal structures in Bistorta vivipara roots date back as far as 1900 (Hesselman), little is known about the diversity of associated fungi.
My Ph.D. project aims at describing the ectomycorrhizal diversity of Bistorta vivipara and comparing species diversity at various height levels and on calcereous and silicate soils. I am currently identifing and characterising ectomycorrhizal species collected in Bavaria (Germany), Lungau (Austria) and Southern Tyrol (Italy) via

• morphological and anatomical features according to Agerer (1987 – 2002) and
• sequencing of rDNA ITS regions, using the UNITE database for reference (Koljalg et al. 2005).

References

Agerer R. (ed.) (1987 – 2002). Colour atlas of ectomycorrhizae. 1^st – 12^th delivery. Einhorn, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany.

Hesselman H. (1900). Om mykorrhizabildingar hos artiska växter. Bih venska Vetensakad Handl 26: 1 – 46.

Koljalg U., Larsson K.-H., Abarenkov K., Nilsson R.H., Alexander I.J., Eberhardt U., Erland S., Hoiland K., Kjoller R., Larsson E., Pennanen T., Sen R., Taylor A.F.S., Terdersoo L., Vralstad T. and Ursing B.M. (2005). UNITE: a database providing web-based methods for the molecular identification of ectomycorrhizal fungi. New Phytologist 166: 1063 – 1068.

Last update: 2011-11-25