and a low density of collembolans induced a shift toward a larger proportion of
Paxillus involutus growth (Ek et al. 1994).
3.3 Relationship Between Sclerotia and Mesofauna
in Forest Soils Based on Ectomycorrhizal Fungal
Community Profiles
3.3.1 Materials and Methods
3.3.1.1 Fungal Community Profiles in Soil
Soil samples were collected from the four study sites described above, all of which
are located in cool forest zones with low-pH soils. To compare with areas with
higher soil pH outside the cool forest zones, we collected soil samples from
temperate deciduous forest dominated by Quercus acutissima and Q. serrata associated with Sasa kurilensis located in Minamiosawa, Tokyo Metropolitan University
campus, Tokyo. We collected sclerotia and mesofauna and performed T-RFLP
analysis of ectomycorrhizal fungi isolated from mesofauna, using the methods
previously described in Sect. 3.2.
To survey the soil fungal community, fungal DNA was extracted using ISOIL for
Bead Beating Soil DNA Extraction Kit (Nippon Gene, Tokyo, Japan). This extraction solution uses both chemical lysis by a surface-active agent and physical
disruption of cells by beads for DNA extraction. Extracted DNA was subjected to
Fig. 3.10 R-analysis for analyzing the fungal community structure of soil mesofauna. The results
showed the stress value 0.0078 (Amasya 2015)
3 Relationships Between Soil Mesofauna, Ectomycorrhizal Fungi, and Sclerotia in. . .
49