ECM can aid the recovery of degraded soil both through the direct absorption of variable pollutants [17, 19] and indirect protection from rehabilitated vegetation [41]. In a previous study of ECM fungi, the main focus was on the relationship selleck between ECM and plants. In the case of the ECM studied in this paper (Gomphidius viscidus), reviewed data have found significant increase in biomass of variable trees together with more soil nutrient absorption (Figure 7): that is, growth of biomass, ground diameter, lateral root and height of larch, pine, and oak increased from 20% to 40%, and much higher increase (50%�C60%) in N, P absorption was found. This result indicates that soil nutrient absorption increase should be a basis for the biomass increase after ECM infection.

However, few studies paid attention to the underlying mechanism of the interaction between ECM and the soil matrix. The findings in this paper showed that the ECM influences on soil colloids should be important aspect of degraded soil improvement.Figure 7ECM infection influences on plant growth and biomass N, P absorption [39]. The ECM is the same species, Gomphidius viscidus, used in this study, and plant species are Larix kaempferi, Pinus tabulaeformis, and Quercus liaotungensis. The percentage in …Dark brown forest soil and saline-alkali soil are two types of soil that are widespread in northeastern China. The first is an example of loam with good physicochemical properties [48], while the latter is notorious for poor physicochemical properties because of long-term degradation from human disturbance [26].

In the case of dark brown forest soil from surface and deep layers, both AFM and SEM images revealed that viscous materials wrapped around soil particles, filled some gaps among particles, and induced smoother surfaces with unclear edges (Figures 2(a)�C2(d) and Figures 3(a)�C3(d)). High absorption capacity is the basis for adhesive material absorption on soil colloids. This absorption has been reported previously [23]. Yan et al. reported that the maximum adsorption capacity (q0) for fine soil colloids ranged from 169.6 to 203.7��gmg?1 [49], which was higher than that for coarse soil colloids (81.0�C94.6��gmg?1). Thus, physical absorption instead of chemical reactions possibly occurred in dark brown forest soil. However, saline-alkali soil was different from dark brown forest soil. There were no clear adhesive layers on soil colloids, and smoother edges were found after the addition of fungus extracts (Figures 3(e) and 3(f)). Significantly larger particle sizes (Figure 1) and relatively loose interactions between different Cilengitide soil particles were observed in saline-alkali soil colloids (Figures 2(e) and 2(f)).