The Effect of Fire on the root Hairs and Mycorrhizae of Liatris spicata

Abstract

Liatris spicata (L.) Willd. plants that had either been unburned, subjected to a one-yr spring burn, or spring burned for two successive years, showed no significant difference in percentage of mycorrhizae, vesicles or arbuscules, intensity of mycorrhizae, presence of root hairs, or intensity of root hairs. Plants from all three treatments had vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM). Vesicles were consistently abundant, but arbuscules were scarce. The percentage of roots with VAM was strongly correlated with VAM intensity, but no other significant correlations were detected for various root hair and mycorrhizal characteristics.