Spring 1999

[TEXT ARCHIVE WEB-PUBLISHED MARCH 2002.
ORIGINAL PRINT PUBLICATION DATE: SPRING 1999.]

Missing Mushrooms

By Debbie Hillman

Dr. James Bever, an ecologist at the University of California-Irvine, has been studying mycorrhizal fungi through Cook County's Restoration Research Fund. Bever and his associates sought to identify the Chicago-area species of a particular fungal group called Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM for short) and to investigate how the presence of such fungi affects prairie restoration.

By comparing soil samples from different locations (prairie remnants, disturbed sites —such as roadsides and old fields, and restored prairies), Bever found that the untouched remnants had the greatest diversity and concentration of AM fungi. His study confirms that routine agricultural practices, such as tilling and the application of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, reduce the abundance and diversity of AM fungi. And although prairie restoration does increase the level of diversity, Mike Miller's research shows that even after 15 years of prairie restoration at Fermilab, the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi still has not reached the level of West Chicago Prairie, a nearby remnant.

The types of fungi that are less common in the disturbed and restored sites are, according to Bever, prime candidates as potential prairie restoration tools. Now the task is to identify these rarer fungi and their preferred host plants and develop techniques to inoculate degraded soils. Currently, about 180 species of AM fungi are known, 34 of which were identified in the Chicago prairie study. Already Bever has discovered that some plants (big bluestem, prairie dropseed, yellow coneflower) are more receptive fungal hosts than others (purple spiderwort, wild onion, alum root). More research into these tiny organisms offers promising help for our region's newest prairies.