Elevation Gradients and Soil Characteristics Shapes Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal in Indian mid-Himalaya

Abstract Indian mid-Himalayan Region as mountain ecosystem with range of biotic and abiotic condition provides unique opportunity to study the AMF diversity. In the present study, soil samples were collected from diverse land use system of four districts of Uttarakhand Himalayas ranging from ~ 1200 to 3100m height. AMF species were identified using morphological and molecular study of spores isolated from collected soil samples. Total six species were identified belonging to 4 genera and 2 families of Glomeromycota. Unlike spore density, AMF diversity and community composition were positively associated with altitude. Across the sampling sites, the most widely distributed species at Chamoli and Bageshwar was Gigaspora margarita (~ 40 and 37%) while at Almora and Nainital, Funneliformis mosseae (~ 28 and 31%) was the dominate species. In correlation study, AMF spore density was significantly (p < 0.01) and positively associated with organic carbon, urease, acid phosphatase and root colonization percentage while negatively with phosphorus, potassium and alkaline phosphatase. Overall, the present study suggested that pattern and distribution of AMF community in Himalayan region is strongly driven by altitude and soil characteristics.