Arbuscular Mycorrhizas Alleviate Plant Stress: Analysis of Studies from South America

Interest in stressful conditions is rising with increasing the recognition that global changes can negatively affect plant diversity and ecosystem function. It is known that arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) permit the plant to perform better under stressful and unfavorable conditions, recruiting their symbiont in the soil. Recent reports on plant growth under different levels of stress and AM account for 94% of the published papers on AM. Stress affects soil physical and chemical properties, influencing the population, diversity and activities of soil microbes, including symbiotic fungal populations. This review was done to explore the current information on the benefits of AM symbioses in stressed systems, with respect to the research results in South America. The increasing appreciation that in-arid regions most trees are mycorrhizal has also deep consequences for rehabilitation efforts of woodlands and forest showing that underground processes are crucial for understanding of ecosystem function.Thus, relevant findings related to the benefits of AM management by increasing stress tolerance are emphasized. Accordingly, research paths that are necessary for the increased understating of 132 Biotechnological Techniques of Stress Tolerance in Plants mycorrhizal benefits under stress conditions, which deserve increasing attention are discussed.