Twenty Years of Research on Community Composition and Species Distribution of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in China: a Review

The biodiversity and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in different ecosystems and plant communities in China has received increasing interest over the past decades. This has led to a steady increase in the number of scientific papers published on this topic. Studies have surveyed AMF-colonizing rhizospheres of most families of angiosperms, bryophytes, pteridophytes, and gymnosperms. China has about 30,000 plant species (one eighth of the plant species worldwide). A total of 104 AMF species within nine genera, including 12 new species, have been reported in environments such as croplands, grasslands, forests, and numerous disturbed environments. In this paper, we review data published over the past 20 years on AMF community composition and species distribution, the mycorrhizal status of plants, AMF spore communities in different habitats, and germplasm collections in China. Possible future trends in the study of the biodiversity of AMF are also briefly discussed. In particular, the aim of our review is to make some of the recent work published in the Chinese literature accessible to a wider international audience.