Ecological characterization of wild grapevine habitats focused on arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

The European wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, is cited as a dioecious relative of cultivated vines, so it can play an important role as phytogenetic resource. There is a lack on the knowledge about the susceptibility of wild grapevine to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) association. In consequence, the aim of the present work is to confirm the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) in the wild grapevine rhizosphere spread in different kinds of soils from 18 wild populations from Spain and France. On the other hand, the accompanying flora, the edaphic characteristics and the presence of parasitic organisms on vines were also determined. The spore density of mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere of the selected plants was relatively low. However, the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi was quite high. The taxonomic diversity of AM observed is 56 taxa, 15 of which were identified to species and 41 to genus. Some morphotypes do not correspond to any of the species described up to now. Results indicate the important quality and ecological value in the sites studied and, in consequence, the necessity of their preservation.