The "Enhancement of the Value and Sustainability of the Cork Oak and Associated Biodiversity" award sponsored by CORTICEIRA AMORIM will be awarded next Friday, November 12 to two researchers from the Plant Systems Biology Laboratory, a division of the Center for Biodiversity, Functional & Integrative Genomics (BioFIG) of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon (FFCUL). The award-giving ceremony will be held at Fatima, where the 20th Quercus Conference on the Environment will be taking place.
Mónica Sebastiana and Maria Salomé Pais will be awarded a prize worth 10 000 euros for their pioneering research on "Mycorrhization of the cork oak - contribution to the sustainability of the cork oak forest".
The winning work of this second edition of the "Enhancement of the Value and Sustainability of the Cork Oak and Associated Biodiversity" award focuses on the use of mycorrhizae to increase the survival rate of new cork oaks and the regeneration of cork oak forests. The inclusion of mycorrhized plants in strategies for reforestation is suggested.
This is the result of years of research on mycorrhizae of Portuguese forest tree species such as the cork oak. A strain of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus tinctorius - that acts as a primary colonizer, especially of roots of young plants - was used. This fungus is able to establish mycorrhizae in highly degraded soils with extreme acidity, low fertility or high levels of toxic metals (kaolin, coal and copper scrap). It can survive and grow at temperatures between 40°C and 42ºC, but the optimum temperature is likely to be between 28°C and 30°C. These features make this isolate of Pisolithus tinctorius the ideal fungus for mycorrhization of plants to be used in cork oak reforestation programs in areas of degraded soil.
This award was created in the context of CORTICEIRA AMORIM's membership of the European Business & Biodiversity Initiative and the memorandum entered into by and between the NFA - National Forest Authority, the ICNB - Institute for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, QUERCUS and WWF - World Wildlife Fund, with the aim of increasing people's awareness about the enhancement of the value and sustainability of the cork oak and associated biodiversity.
The commitment of CORTICEIRA AMORIM to the sustainability of the cork oak and associated biodiversity program is also demonstrated:
Notes:
1. In Nature, plants live in partnership with soil fungi. This partnership - present at the level of the roots - is extremely old (more than 400 million years) (Brundrett 2002) and is widespread throughout the plant kingdom, a fact that occurs in around 95% of vascular plants (Brundrett et al. 1996). This is a symbiotic relationship in which the plant provides the fungus with sugars (produced by photosynthesis) and the fungus, in its turn, transfers nutrients from the soil to the plant. The relationship between the two partners (plant and fungus) results in a new body - the mycorrhiza. There are several types of mycorrhizae with distinct morphological characteristics; these mycorrhizae vary according to the group of fungi and host plants. Ectomycorrhizae (ECM) are predominant in cork oak forests and in other temperate forests.
2. There are two basic reasons for considering the inclusion of mycorrhizae in afforestation strategies. First, mycorrhizal fungi are a major component of natural ecosystems, interacting with soil, microflora, fauna and flora and, therefore, they should be part of a restored soil environment. Second, mycorrhizae provide numerous benefits to plants and can contribute substantially to the success of a reforestation process. The use of mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural and forestry production systems is a strategy aimed at increasing plant productivity and reducing the impact on the environment.
