Importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities for the growth of selected plant species on an abandonned field

The thesis deals with the effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) on the growth of selected plant species at a locality in České středohoří. This locality is characterized by close neighborhood of a semi-natural dry grassland and a former field abandonned in the 1990s, typical for the mosaic of biotopes in the region. The study is based on previous findings that some plant species, which are common at the semi-natural dry grasslands, do not colonize the abandoned fields. As AM is an important factor affecting diversity and productivity of plant communities we hypothesized that this phenomenon could be related to changes in AM fungal communities at the abandoned field. The hyphothesis was tested in a greenhouse pot experiment with three taxonomically related pairs of plant species, always one species growing at the abandoned field and the second one not. Growth and phosphorus uptake of the plants was followed in soils of both biotopes after factorial inoculation with AM fungal communities from both biotopes. The experiment was complemented by description of AM fungal communities in the roots of six plant species pairs from the locality using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). The greenhouse experiment revealed positive mycorrhizal response in all plant species, but the origin..