folia biologica et geologica 58/1, 115–123, ljubljana 2017
SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMyCORRHIZA ACROSS 
ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
EKTOMIKORIZNI SIMBIONTI BELE JELKE (ABIES ALBA MILL.) 
NA NARAVNEM OBMOČJU RAZŠIRJENOSTI - PREGLED
Tina UNUK1,* & Tine GREBENC1
http://dx.doi.org/10.3986/fbg0025
abStRact
Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) ectomycorrhiza across its areal 
– a review approach
Silver fir is a long-living ecologically valuable and in-
digenous conifer species. In temperate forests it is consid-
ered as a ˝stabilization tree species .̋ Currently, knowledge of 
silver fir ectomycorrhiza community is manly based on 
morphological-anatomical description of ectomycorrhizal 
fungi and their fruiting bodies. Only recently few studies 
were published in which authors identified ectomycorrhizal 
symbionts of silver fir with an aid of molecular (DNA-based) 
markers. We analysed the silver fir ectomycorrhiza diversity 
and species richness from different geographic areas and 
stand types. From all together nine original studies we cal-
culated average species richness as well as a Bray-Curtis 
similarity index. The highest species diversity was observed 
in studies where a combination of morphological-anatomi-
cal and molecular approaches were used for identification. 
Bray-Curtis similarity index indicated highest dissimilarity 
of the southern sites comparing to other areas. We correlat-
ed the observed outcome to differences in soil conditions, 
climate, and only basic identification approach.
Keywords: Silver fir, ectomycorrhiza, literature review, 
community composition, site conditions, species diversity, 
species richness 
iZVleČeK
ektomikorizni simbionti bele jelke (Abies alba Mill.) na 
naravnem območju razširjenosti – pregled
Bela jelka je vednozelena drevesna vrsta, ki ima v nara-
vnih gozdovih ekološko pomembno vlogo, saj velja za stabi-
lizacijsko drevesno vrsto. Podatki o ektomikoriznih simbi-
ontih bele jelke pretežno temeljijo na morfološko-
anatomskih opisih ektomikoriznih gliv in njihovih trosnja-
kov. Šele v zadnjih letih je bilo objavljenih nekaj študij, v 
katerih so avtorji združbo ektomikoriznih gliv bele jelke 
analizirali z molekularnimi pristopi. V preglednem članku 
smo analizirali rezultate pestrosti ektomikorize bele jelke z 
devet lokacij in preračunali povprečne vrednostmi vrstne 
pestrosti ter Bray-Curtisov indeks podobnosti združb. 
Največjo vrstno pestrost smo ugotovili za vzhodni del areala 
bele jelke. Poleg ugodnih rastiščnih razmer k temu predvid-
oma doprinesejo tudi kombinacija uporabljenih metod za 
identifikacijo. Bray-Curtisov indeks podobnosti združb 
kaže, da med zastopanimi regijami znotraj areala (centralna, 
vzhodna in južna) po vrstni sestavi najbolj odstopajo rastišča 
v južnem arealu bele jelke. Odstopanja vrstne sestave lahko 
povežemo z razlikami v pH tal, s tipom tal in s toplejšo, za 
belo jelko manj primerno klimo. 
Ključne besede: bela jelka, ekomikoriza, pregledni 
članek, združba ektomikorize na jelki, rastišči pogoji, 
bogastvo vrst, vrstna pestrost
 1 Slovenian Forestry Institute, Večna pot 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. 
 * email: tina.unuk@gozdis.si
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
116 folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
Although in recent years few studies, focusing on ecto-
mycorrhizae of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) have been 
published, little is known about ectomycorrhiza spe-
cies richness of silver fir along its geographic areal. Sil-
ver fir is a long-living conifer and the largest tree (up to 
60 m) in the genus Abies in Europe. The distribution 
area is limited mainly to the mountainous regions of 
eastern, western, southern and central Europe (Figure 
1) (Westergren et al. 2010). Silver fir is also an eco-
logically valuable and indigenous tree species (Eber-
hardt et al. 2000). It is considered as a ˝stabilization 
tree species” as well as a key tree species, without which 
maintenance of selection structure in forest communi-
ties would be difficult (Klopčič et al. 2009). 
As most European forest tree species, silver fir 
forms an ectomycorrhiza, a symbiosis with fungi from 
Ascomycota and Basidiomycota (Schirkonyer et al. 
2013). Beside the exchange of nutrients and metabolites 
between symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi and plant 
host, formation of ectomycorrhizae on tree roots alters 
root growth (Smith & Read 2008) and protects them 
against root diseases, which increases the survival rate 
of silver fir seedlings (Schirkonyer et al. 2013). 
Currently ectomycorrhizal communities on silver 
fir remain poorly identified. Most silver fir ectomycor-
rhiza descriptions were based on morphological and 
anatomical characteristics (Comandini et al. 2004, 
Pacioni et al. 2001, Cremer 2009) and characterized 
without the exact identification of fungal symbiont 
(Rudawska et al. 2016). In addition, some potential ec-
tomycorrhiza fungi were connected to silver fir based 
on proximity of sporocarps occurrence (Lagana et al. 
2000, 2002). Until now only few studies have been pub-
lished in which authors had identified ectomycorrhiza 
on silver fir applying molecular (DNA-based) markers 
(Eberhardt et al. 2000, Cremer 2009, Wazny 2014, 
Schirkonyer et al. 2013, Rudawska et al. 2016, 
Wazny & Kowalski 2017). 
Ectomycorrhiza diversity and community struc-
ture, tree age, rooting depth, soil characteristics, and 
other characteristics can be used as a prediction data 
for potentially altered tree responses in given environ-
ments. To evaluate the significance of the ectomycor-
rhiza community shifts, a base knowledge on the ecto-
mycorrhiza diversity and community structure is re-
quired. For this reason, we reviewed all published 
studies that focused ectomycorrhiza on silver fir to 
assess and analyse the species richness and its varia-
tion on geographic gradient, and under generalized 
site conditions from the currently analysed locations. 
1 INTRODUCTION
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 collection of mycorrhizal occurrence data
The review is based on published studies of ectomycor-
rhiza on silver fir (Table 1) where at least the list of 
identified types of ectomycorrhiza and basic site char-
acteristics such as soil pH, soil type, stand type and 
location of the study were given. 
Authors from reviewed studies have analysed ec-
tomycorrhizal taxa either in pure adult natural silver 
fir stands, mixed stands with variable share of silver fir 
as well as from planted silver fir stands. Reviewed 
stands differ soil conditions, climatic condition, alti-
tude and in tree species composition. Although most 
studies provided the stand characteristics, not all were 
readily available thus missing values for soil pH were 
gained either from online soil databases (soilgrids.org) 
or from other studies performed at the same study 
sites. 
Ectomycorrhiza studies on silver fir covered three 
general parts of the silver fir distribution areal in Eu-
rope. The areal was also the rationale for grouping 
them into representative areas, namely southern, east-
ern and central Europe. No studies were available for 
western part of its areal. The position of studied loca-
tion in areal as well as silver fir distribution in Europe 
is given in Figure 1.
2.2 Data analyses
From published papers the following variables have 
been extracted: number of ectomycorrhizal species of 
silver fir per study/site, basic soil characteristics (if 
given) such as soil pH and soil type, as well as type of 
stand in which ectomycorrhizal fungal of silver fir 
were analysed.  
To compare species richness between geographic 
areas, average species richness per geographic area was 
calculated (Atlas & Bartha 1981). To show similarity 
of communities among geographic areas we calculated 
a Bray-Curtis similarity index for species richness 
(Bray & Curtis 1957).  
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
117folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
3.1 ectomycorrhizal fungal symbionts overview
The review of published works on ectomycorrhiza on 
silver fir revealed nine studies where sufficient data 
and metadata were available, to be included in the re-
view. Studies covered only central, eastern and south-
ern part of the silver fir areal (Table 1, Figure 1).
southern Europe 12 out of 18 different ectomycorrhiza 
taxa of silver fir were identified to a species level and 
the rest to a genus level. However, there were still 13 
ectomycorrhiza fungal taxa that remained as unidenti-
fied ectomycorrhiza. In central Europe, authors man-
aged to identify 17 different ectomycorrhiza fungal 
taxa at a species level and 3 at a genus level. 
Figure 1: The location of reviewed stands and silver 
fir (Abies alba Mill.) distribution (source: EUFOR-
GEN database).
Slika 1: Lokacije analiziranih sestojev bele jelke 
(Abies alba Mill.) in območje razširjenosti bele 
jelke (vir: podatkovna baza EUFORGEN).
3 RESULTS
table 1: Studies included in review.
tabela 1: Študije vključene v pregled.
geographic area Data
Southern Europe Comandini et al. 2001
Lagana et al. 2002
Pacioni et al. 2006
Central Europe Schirkonyer et al. 2013
Cremer, 2009
Eastern Europe Wazny 2014
Rudawska et al. 2016
Wazny and Kowalski 2017
Kowalski 2008
The average number of different types of ectomy-
corrhiza on silver fir was high, overall 85 different ec-
tomycorrhizal types have been identified (Table 2). In 
eastern Europe 62 different ectomycorrhiza fungal 
taxa have been identified, however 5 ectomycorrhiza 
fungal taxa remained identified only at genus level. For 
table 2: Number of different identified ectomycorrhiza 
fungal taxa on silver fir and number of different identi-
fied ectomycorrhiza taxa recorded per geographic area. 
tabela 2: Število različnih določenih ektomikoriznih 
glivnih taksonov bele jelke in število različnih 
določenih ekotmikoriznih glivnih taksonov zabeleženih 
po geografskih območjih.
Overall 
number 
Southern 
Europe
Eastern 
Europe
Central 
Europe
Unidentified 
species
85 18 62 20 13
By comparing emerging ectomycorrhiza fungal 
taxa among areas only few species were present at all 
areas, namely Byssocorticium atrovirens, Cenococcum 
geophilum and Laccaria amethystina. Southern Europe 
differed most in terms of ectomycorrhiza taxa diversi-
ty while eastern and central Europe have much more 
species in common compared to southern Europe 
(Table 3). 
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
118 folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
Fungal species
Present at 
eastern 
Europe
Present at 
southern 
Europe
Present at 
central 
Europe
Amanita rubescens +
Amanita spissa +
Amphinema byssoides + +
Boletus edulis + +
Boletus badius +
Boletus pruinatus + +
Byssocorticium atrovirens + + +
Cantharellus sp. +
Cenococcum geophilum + + +
Clavulina cristata + +
Clavulina rugosa +
Cortinarius anomalus +
Cortinarius casimiri +
Cortinarius fulvescens +
Cortinarius malachius +
Cortinarius semisanguineus +
Cortinarius sp. +
Craterellus lutescens +
Elaphomyces muricatus +
Entoloma sp. +
Genea sp. + +
Geopora cervina +
Hydnotrya bailii +
Hydnotrya tulasnei +
Hydnum repandum +
Hydnum rufescens +
Hygrophorus pudorinues +
Hysterangium sp. +
Imleria badia +
Inocybe geophylla +
Inocybe terrigena +
Inocybe sp. +
Laccaria amethystina + + +
Laccaria laccata +
Laccaria maritima +
Lactarius aurantiacus +
Lactarius camphoratus +
Lactarius ichoratus +
Lactarius intermedius +
Lactarius lignyotus +
Lactarius necator +
Lactarius rufus +
Lactarius salmonicolor + +
Fungal species
Present at 
eastern 
Europe
Present at 
southern 
Europe
Present at 
central 
Europe
Lactarius scrobiculatus +
Lactarius subericatus +
Lactarius subdulcis +
Lactarius sp. +
Melanogaster variegatus +
Meliniomyces variabilis +
Mycena galopus +
Paxillus involutus + +
Phellodon niger +
Piloderma byssinum +
Piloderma fallax +
Piloderma sp. +
Pseudotomentella tristis +
Russula amethystina +
Russula cyanoxantha +
Russula fellea +
Russula integra +
Russula nigricans +
Russula ochroleuca + +
Russula olivacea +
Russula puellaris +
Russula vesca +
Russula xerampelina +
Russula sp. +
Scleroderma citrinum +
Sebacina sp. +
Thelephora terrestris + +
Tomentella albomarginata +
Tomentella botryoides +
Tomentella ellisii +
Tomentella stuposa +
Tomentella sublilacina +
Tomentella terrestris +
Tomentella sp. +
Tomentellopsis sp. +
Tuber puberulum +
Tuber sp. +
Tricholoma bufonium +
Tricholoma saponaceum +
Tylopilus felleus +
Tylospora asterophora +
Tylospora fibrillosa +
table 3: identified ectomycorrhiza fungal taxa in symbiosis with silver fir based on area their occurrence. + indicates 
present of the species in particular area.
tabela 3: Določeni ektomikorizni glivni taksoni v simbiozi z belo jelko na podlagi njihovega območja pojavljanja. + 
označuje prisotnost vrste na posameznem območju.
3.2 Stands characteristic and ectomycorrhizal 
fungal species richness
All reviewed studies have analysed pure silver fir 
stands as well as mixed or planted stands. The south-
ern Europe stands deviate from other areas mainly by 
the average pH values which are significantly higher, 
compared to eastern and central Europe (Table 3). As 
well as pH also soil type differed between reviewed 
areas, although for southern Europe we could not gain 
information from original papers about soil character-
istics.  
The highest average species richness was calculat-
ed for eastern Europe sites and the lowest for central 
European sites (Figure 2). High standard deviation 
within areas indicates high variability among sites and 
individual soil samples.
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
119folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
As average species richness, specifically a standard 
deviation calculated for individual areas showed high 
differences inside the same area, we compared species 
richness by a stand type (Table 4). Except in central 
Europe, pure (monospecific) silver fir stands showed 
To show similarity of communities among re-
viewed geographic areas, Bray-Curtis similarity index 
was calculated. The highest species richness similarity 
was calculated among eastern and central Europe, 
while southern Europe differed more from eastern and 
from central Europe (Table 5). The result coincides 
with pattern of ectomycorrhizal fungal species occur-
rence.
table 4: generalised characteristics of reviewed stands.
tabela 4: Splošne značilnosti analiziranih sestojev.
Geographic 
generalized area 
Reviewed 
stand type
Soil 
characteristics pH
Eastern Europe
pure silver fir 
and mixed 
stands
acid brown 4.46 ± 0.4
Southern Europe
natural and 
planted silver 
fir stands
not specified 6.1 ± 1.13
Central Europe
pure silver fir 
and mixed 
stands
middle-red 
sandstone 4.28 ± 0.17
Figure 2: Average ectomycorrhiza fungal taxa richness 
analysed for eastern, southern and central Europe.
Slika 2: Povprečna pestrost ektomikoriznih glivnih taksonov 
analiziranih za območje vzhodne, južne in osrednje Evrope. 
table 5: average species richness for stand type and 
geographic area. 
tabela 5: Povprečna vrstna pestrost po tipih sestojev in 
geografskih območjih.
Stand type
Av. spec.richn.
Monospecific 
silver fir 
stands
Mixed stands 
with silver 
fir
Plantation 
silver fir 
stands
Eastern Europe 33.5 26.7 20
Southern Europe 27 / 21
Central Europe 15 33 /
table 6: bray-curtis similarity index for species richness.
tabela 6: bray-curtisov indeks podobnosti za vrstno 
pestrost.
Geographic areas Bray-Curtis similarity index
Eastern & southern Europe 0.13
Eastern & central Europe 0.24
Southern & central Europe 0.16
higher species richness than mixed stands and planta-
tion stands. In central Europe species richness in 
mixed stands with silver fir was higher compared to 
natural silver fir stands, where have been detected 
half less species compared to mixed stands.  
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Silver fir ectomycorrhiza has high diversity 
potential that remains underexploited
Silver fir ectomycorrhiza is not among better studied 
topics, what is reflecting in results of the review. From 
nine studies a relative high number of ectomycorrhizal 
taxa per site was retrieved, indicating a high potential for 
ectomycorrhiza diversity in silver fir stands. A high po-
tential for hidden ectomycorrhiza taxa diversity on silver 
fir is also indicated with high number of types of ecto-
mycorrhiza that remained unknown or identified only 
at genus level either due to lack of recognizable features 
or due to an insufficient identification method. Both in-
dicate a need to study additional silver fir sites along the 
species distribution gradient in particular areas, where 
Silver fir ectomycorrhiza was not studied yet.
4.2 the silver fir ectomycorrhiza community 
differs among areas
In this review, published studies have been grouped 
into three general parts, which were further compared 
based on species occurrence, species richness, envi-
ronmental propertied as well as based on ectomycor-
rhizal species similarity. 
Bray-Curtis similarity index for species richness 
showed higher similarity between eastern and central 
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
120 folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
Europe, compared to southern Europe, which stands 
out. This could be a consequence of different climatic 
and environmental condition, as southern Europe is 
more characterized by Mediterranean conditions 
while silver fir prefers relatively high elevated areas 
(above 500 m a.s.l.) and requires high moisture condi-
tions throughout the year (Tinner et al. 2013). This all 
can put silver fir in permanent stress conditions and a 
selection toward more resistant / pioneer types of ecto-
mycorrhiza among which we identified at least genera 
Cenococcum, Genea, Hysterangium and Tuber.
Silver fir tolerates a wide variety of soil types with 
different nutrient content and alkalinity conditions 
(Ruosch et al. 2015) associated ectomycorrhiza com-
munity reacts to differences among site soils as only 
three ectomycorrhizal species were present at all areas, 
namely B. atrovirens, C. geophilum and L. amethystina. 
Several other types of ectomycorrhiza were present at 
two areas – eastern Europe and central Europe, name-
ly Genea sp., Clavulina cristata, Russula ochroleuca, 
Thelephora terrestris etc. which favour conditions as 
well as on stand types in common for eastern and cen-
tral sites. These species can also be regarded as gener-
alist as they occur at two different geographic areas. 
Species richness analysis showed the highest ecto-
mycorrhizal species richness in eastern Europe and on 
lowest species richness in central Europe. This result 
could be a consequence of either lower sampling inten-
sity in central Europe or either of insufficient ectomy-
corrhizas identification. As the sampling intensity of 
studies was in general between four till six-week peri-
od, we can assume that beside the differences in envi-
ronmental properties, the identification method was 
the mainly reason for a large ectomycorrhizas species 
richness differences between geographic areas. Analy-
sis success of ectomycorrhiza fungal diversity based on 
morphological descriptions is often low and only rare-
ly allows sufficient identification of mycorrhizas at the 
fungal species level (Rudawska et al. 2016).
Only for eastern Europe sites DNA-based identifi-
cation approaches were used for ectomycorrhiza iden-
tification thus we assume, that higher number of ecto-
mycorrhiza fungal species is a result of combination of 
methods used for identification (Suz et al. 2008). 
The ectomycorrhiza species richness differ also be-
tween stand types. The species richness was higher at 
natural pure fir stands compared to mixed stands and 
plantation fir stands. Although it is generally accepted 
that co-occurrence of different host tree species within 
a stand promotes ectomycorrhiza diversity at the local 
scale (Rudawska et al. 2016), the ectomycorrhiza com-
munities can be highly diverse even in a mono-specific 
stands (Cremer 2009). Many studies have shown that 
relevant factors determining the composition of the ec-
tomycorrhizal fungi are age of the associated host trees 
and stand history (PACIOni et al. 2001, Lagana et al. 
2002). Cremer (2009) indicated that adult silver fir 
trees on average, host higher number of different ecto-
mycorrhiza than juvenile trees suggesting an increase 
of the ectomycorrhiza species richness over time. In 
case of other conifers, a rapid increase was shown in 
species richness and sporocarp productivity during 
first 30-40 years of the stand and a more gradual de-
crease to a constant level afterwards (Comandini et al. 
2004). This explains observations where the individual 
tree increased its ectomycorrhiza community richness 
in time by allowing multi-mycorrhization of its ex-
pending root systems (Cremer 2009). Lack of some 
silver fir ectomycorrhizal fungi in analysed stands 
could be also a result of unfavourable site characteris-
tics such as pH, litter and soil quality, climate, etc. (Ru-
dawska et al. 2016). This explains the higher ectomy-
corrhiza species richness at natural fir stands com-
pared to planted sites supporting the idea to focus di-
versity studies on either more natural or combination 
of natural and planted sites (Lagana et al. 2002).
4.3 Specialists versus generalist ectomycorrhiza 
species on silver fir
At all investigated silver fir stands, Cenococcum ge-
ophilum was present in most soil samples. The species 
is known to be one of the most widely distributed ecto-
mycorrhizal fungal species in various ectomycorrhiza 
forests (Hrenko et al. 2009). Predominance of C. ge-
ophilum can indicate thick organic layer or high fluc-
tuations of soil temperature and moisture content as it 
is regarded as stress tolerant species and can persist as 
ectomycorrhiza up to 10 times longer compared to 
other ectomycorrhiza species (Lobuglio 1999). In 
such conditions, C. geophilum is a highly competitive 
ectomycorrhizal fungus. Similar Tomentella stuposa 
can be regarded as common ectomycorrhiza symbiont 
of silver fir with long list of ectomycorrhiza plant part-
ners (Cremer 2009, Wazny 2014).
Among silver fir specialist ectomycorrhizal fungi 
is Lactarius salmonicolor (Pillukat 1996). This ecto-
mycorrhiza was found at silver fir stands in southern 
and eastern Europe, but was not recorded in central 
Europe. Other species that exhibit some level of silver 
fir preference are also L. albocarneus, L. intermedius 
and Russula spp. (Rudawska et al. 2016). From men-
tioned Lactarius species, only L. intermedius has been 
identified in southern Europe. Absence of other silver 
fir-specialist ectomycorrhizal fungi in southern Eu-
T. UNUK & T. GREBENC: SILVER FIR (ABIES ALBA MILL.) ECTOMYCORRHIZA ACROSS ITS AREAL – A REVIEW APPROACH
121folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
rope can be a result of distinct climate and soil condi-
tions or of an insufficient (e.g. only ectomycorrhiza 
morphology-based) identification.
The occurrence of several other species and be re-
lated to the area or forest type characteristics. Laccaria 
amethystina was also found in ectomycorrhiza with 
silver fir occurring regardless to the age of the stand, 
although it was previously regarded as an early stage 
ectomycorrhizal species (Cremer 2009). Occurrence 
of Clavulina cristata at stands in eastern and central 
Europe may indicate at high concentrations of Ca- and 
Mg-cations in the soil, as high cation concentrations 
positively affected the development of C. cristata in 
spruce and beech stands (Wazny 2014).  
CONCLUSSIONS
All together nine studies were conducted focusing 
the ectomycorrhiza of silver fir. Observed differences 
in silver fir stands between analysed areas (eastern, 
southern and central Europe) reflect some of the gen-
eral site characteristics while the strong bias cannot be 
excluded and likely related to insufficient sampling ef-
fort and use of identification approaches and sampling 
strategies with poor discriminative power. 
POVZETEK
Bela jelka je vednozelena drevesna vrsta iz rodu Abies, 
katere območje razširjenosti je omejeno na vzhodno, 
zahodno, južno ter centralno Evropo. Tako kot večina 
evropskih drevesnih vrst, tvori tudi bela jelka ektomi-
korizno simbiozo z več vrstami gliv. Mikorizna simbi-
oza je stalen simbiotski odnos med korenino rastline 
in glivo, pri katerem prihaja do dvosmernega pretoka 
hranil. Do sedaj je bilo objavljenih le nekaj študij v ka-
teri so avtorji analizirali pestrost ektomikoriznih sim-
biontov bele jelke. Trenutno, znanje o ektomikorizah 
bele jelke povečini temelji na morfološko-anatomskih 
opisih ektomikoriznih gliv in njihovih trosnjakov. V 
zadnjih letih je bilo objavljenih tudi nekaj študij, v ka-
terih so avtorji za identifikacijo ektomikoriznih gliv-
nih vrst uporabili tudi analize molekularnih marker-
jev. 
V članku smo povzeli rezultate objavljenih študij 
in z analizami vrstne pestrosti in podobnosti združb, 
med seboj primerjali posamezna geografska območja 
ter tipe sestojev.
Največja vrstna pestrost ektomikoriznih simbion-
tov bele jelke je bila ugotovljena za območje vzhodne 
Evrope, medtem ko je južna Evropa najmanj vrstno 
pestra glede na število vrst ektomikoriz bele jelke. 
Ugotovljena razlika je najverjetneje posledica izbire 
identifikacijskih metod, saj so samo na območju vzho-
dne Evrope, avtorji študij za identifikacijo ektomikori-
znih gliv bele jelke uporabili tudi molekularne metode 
identifikacije – analize molekularnih markerjev. 
Vrstna pestrost se razlikuje tudi med posamezni-
mi analiziranimi tipi sestojev. V naravnih sestojih bele 
jelke je vrstna pestrost ektomikoriznih gliv večja v pri-
merjavi z umetnimi oz. mešanimi sestoji. Zraven sta-
rosti sestojev so najverjetnejši vzroki za ugotovljeno 
razliko neugodni okoljski dejavniki.
Pri primerjavi prisotnosti ektomikoriznih glivnih 
simbiontov na posameznem geografskem območju 
smo ugotovili, da se v vseh analiziranih sestojih poja-
vljajo nekateri generalisti, kot npr. B. atrovirens, C. ge-
ophilum in L. amethystine. Kljub prisotnosti nekaterih 
generalistov, se v analiziranih sestojih bele jelke poja-
vljajo tudi vrste, ki preferirajo sestoje bele jelke, Lacta-
rius salmonicolor, Lactarius intermedius ipd. Na podla-
gi prisotnosti nekaterih ektomikroiznih glivnih vrst 
lahko ocenimo tudi starost sestojev ter lastnosti tal. 
Skupaj smo analizirali devet objavljenih študij, v 
katerih so se avtorji osredotočili na analize pestrosti 
ektomikoriznih gliv bele jelke. Ugotovljene razlike so 
zraven vpliva različnih lastnosti sestojev, najverjetneje 
rezultat uporabe identifikacijskih metod, kot tudi raz-
ličnih metod ter časovne dinamike vzorčenja, katerih 
so se v svojih študijah poslužili avtorji. 
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122 folia biologica et geologica 58/1 – 2017
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