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Lycopodium Fairy Rings: Effect on Soil Respiration and Enzymatic Activities¹

ABSTRACT

Lycopodium species (L. tristachyum, L. clavatum, and L. complanatum) sometimes occur as fairy rings—dense annuli of plants, 1 to 1.5 m wide, that grow radially outward at a rate of 20 to 50 cm/year and die within. The impact of these fairy rings on soil organic matter was investigated through studies of soil respiration and selected enzymatic activities. Respiration was enhanced in the soil under lycopodium rings compared with soil either outside or inside the rings. The activities of phosphatase, protease, dehydrogenase, catalase, polyphenol oxidase, amylase, and dextrinase were found to be independent of soil location. However, significant increases in cellulase, invertase, polygalacturonase, and peroxidase activities were observed in the soil under lycopodium rings. A model based on the infection of the lycopodium plant by its endophytic fungus and subsequent peroxidative degradation of soil organic matter is presented to explain both the increases in enzymatic activities and nutrient availability under lycopodium fairy rings.

¹ A report of research of the Cornell Univ. Dep of Agronomy Paper No. 1083. Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree. This work was supported by NSF Grant GB-35636.

² Graduate Research Assistant, Assistant Professor of Soil Organic Chemistry, and Charles Lathrop Pack Professor of Forest Soils, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y., respectively.

Received for publication July 1, 1974. Accepted for publication September 3, 1974.