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Soil Microfungal Relationships Associated With Grassland Reestablishment, Dennis C. Clarke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mixed prairie association has a characteristic soil microfungal flora associated with the cover vegetation (Clarke and Christensen, 1980). Rhizosphere organisms are correlated with the cover vegetation (Christensen, 1969) and a change in the cover vegetation should be accompanied by a change in the organisms in the rhizosphere. Some disturbances that may lead to change in the cover vegetation are tillage, grazing, interseeding, mowing and fires. Christensen's (1980) review of species diversity and dominance in fungal communities indicates that in general these disturbances tend to reduce soil microfungal diversity while increasing the frequency of the remaining species. Other studies have …