OCCURRENCE OF SOME GLOMALES IN FINLAND

By using trap plants, 17 species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) belonging to the order Glomales were identified in 266 soil samples c ollected in the period 1987-1989. Of the identified isolates, 87.1% be longed to the genus Glomus Tulasne and Tulasne, 8.5% to Acaulospora Ge rdemann and Trappe, 4.1% to Scutellospora Walker & Sanders and 0.3% to Entrophospora. Of the individual species identified, Glomus hoi Berch & Trappe was the most frequently identified, followed by G. fistulosu m Skou and Jakobsen and G. mosseae (Nicol. and Gerd.) Gerdemann gr Tra ppe. Only small differences in AMF trapping ability were observed betw een the four trap plants used, Trifolium pratense L., Zen mays L., All ium cepa L. var. cepa and Fragaria X ananassa Duch. T. pratense was ch osen for further study because it had the highest AMF sporulation inde x in trap cultures and it also performed better than the other plants when grown in soils with different physical and chemical properties. T he proportion of soil samples where AMF were identified decreased from close to 100% in the southern and central parts of Finland to about 5 0% in northern Finland.