The author of this website, Janusz Blaszkowski, initiated investigations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the Department of Plant Pathology of the Agricultural University in Szczecin in 1983. Undoubtedly, they were inspired by the results of the pioneer and long-term studies of mycorrhizae conducted by Professor Tadeusz Dominik and his co-workers.
To 1982, no systematic investigations of arbuscular fungi were conducted in Poland. In the literature, only two reports existed of specimens found during studies on the occurrence of other fungi. The first one, cited by Bucholtz (Bucholtz 1912), regards Glomus versiforme collected near Wroclaw, the second one, informing of the presence of Gl. macrocarpum, is in the 10th volume of the Polish Flora (Lawrynowicz 1979).
In the years 1983-1994, the occurrence and morphological properties of arbuscular fungi were mainly investigated based on spores isolated from field-collected soil samples. From 1994, the fungi were studied using spores recovered from both field soils and pot trap and single-species cultures. Examination of trap cultures revealed the common occurrence of many species of arbuscular fungi earlier not found at the same site. Most of the species formed very small spores with thin and delicate wall layers.
The availability of living spores of arbuscular fungi also enabled to conduct studies of their ontogenetic development in one-species cultures and to determine the properties of mycorrhizae formed by the fungi.
The main aim of the author of this website is to present and illustrate morphological characters of the species of arbuscular fungi found. Most of them come from maritime and inland sand dunes of Poland and other countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and USA. The others were isolated from different cultivated and non-dune uncultivated sites of Poland. Additionally, the morphological properties of species of fungi of the family Endogonaceae Paol. and the genus Complexipes Walker found during collecting of arbuscular fungi are presented.
This website consists of four entries, i. e., "Materials and Methods", "Life Cycles and Mycorrhizae", "Taxonomy", and "Others".
The entry "Materials and Methods" comprises 11 subentries showing the methods used to (1) collect root and rhizosphere soil samples, (2) establish trap and one-species cultures, (3) isolate spores, (4) make diagnostic slides, and (5) to clear roots and stain mycorrhizae. Additionally, the techniques used to determine shapes, dimensions, and colours of the properties characterized, as well as those applied to store root-rhizosphere soil mixtures, spores and mycorrhizae, and to make photographs and vouchers are presented.
The entry "Life cycles and Mycorrhizae" describes the nature and life cycles of all the recognized genera of arbuscular fungi, as well as their mycorrhizae. Additionally, the significance of arbuscular fungi for plants and plant communities is presented.
The entry "Taxonomy" consists of five subentries. The subentry "Classification" shows the systems of classification of arbuscular fungi used in the past and that recently proposed.
The subentry "Nomenclature" contains names of all the species of arbuscular fungi described and their author(s).
The modes of development of spores of the fungal genera recognized and their mycorrhizae are characterized in the subentry "Modes of spore development and properties of mycorrhizae", and components of spores and their phenotypic and biochemical properties are defined in "Definitions of spore characters".
The subentry "Species descriptions and illustrations" contains a linked list of the fungal species characterized arranged according to their affiliation to a genus.
The content of each page shows (1) the name of a species and its author(s); (2) morphological characters of the most important components of the fungus characterized; (4) its habitat and distribution; (5) comments on the morphological and biochemical characters of spores, their components, and the mycorrhizae of the species considered; (6) differences between the species characterized and some other most similar taxa; and (7) the literature cited.
The entry "Others" consists of two subentries. The subentry "What's new" informs of the news incorporated. Look at it every half a year. The next one, "Links", contains links to other websites dealing with fungi.
The second edition of this website presents 57 species of arbuscular fungi, Complexipes moniliformis C. Walker, and three species of the genus Endogone. They are illustrated with almost 1900 microphotographs.
Finally, the author of this website suggests to know the history of erection and the scientific and didactic activities of members of the Department of Plant Pathology, as well as the past and the present day of the city Szczecin.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Y. Dalpé, Centre Recherche Biosystématique, Ferme Expérimentale Centrale, Ottawa, Canada, Professor R. E. Koske, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, USA, Professor J. B. Morton, Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, USA, Professor J. M. Trappe, Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA, Professor K. Turnau, Institute of Botany, the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, and Dr. C. Walker, Mycology Department, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh for many valuable comments and discussions conducted during my 20-year studies of arbuscular fungi.
Many valuable data on the occurrence and distribution of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species presented here come from my studies conducted during COST Action meetings. Therefore, I would like to thank Dr. Silvio Gianinazzi, the Chairman of the program, for the invitations to the meetings.
Janusz Błaszkowski
E-mail: jblaszkowski@agro.ar.szczecin.pl
13 October 2003
REFERENCES
Bucholtz F. 1912. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Gattung Endogone Link. Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 29, 147-225.
Lawrynowicz M., 1979. Endogonales, klebiankowate. In: A. Skirgiello, M. Zadara, M. Lawrynowicz. Grzyby X. Warszawa-Kraków, 273-295.