The south Florida pine rocklands is a critically endangered, fire-dependent ecosystem dominated by the overstory tree Pinus densa (South Florida slash pine). Because pine recruitment in this ecosystem has proven problematic, restoration efforts need to include replanting slash pine trees. Even though ectomycorrhizal fungi are known to be critical symbionts of young pines and are necessary for the development of healthy pines, virtually nothing is known about these mutualists and their role in pine establishment and survival in the pine rocklands. One approach to improve pine establishment is to grow seedlings in a nursery before outplanting, facilitating early associations with ectomycorrhizae, and therefore improving seedling health. In this study, we compared health metrics (height, stem diameter, final needle length, root length, root colonization, needle greenness, root volume, and root:shoot ratio) of seedlings grown in soil amended with five commercially available mycorrhizal inocula versus field soil collected from three pine rockland fragments. Seedlings grown with native field soil from the pine rocklands generally performed better than those grown with commercial inoculum in all metrics except root length. According to their labels, each commercial inoculum contained between 4 and 10 ectomycorrhizal fungi species. However, no ectomycorrhizal fungi were recovered from two of the inoculum products and only three ectomycorrhizal fungi in total were recovered from the other three products. In contrast, seedlings grown with field soil are associated with ten ectomycorrhizal species. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating native ectomycorrhizal fungi into pine seedling replanting as part of restoration efforts in the pine rocklands.

南佛罗里达松岩地是一个极度濒危、依赖火灾的生态系统，由上层树木Pinus densa主导（南佛罗里达斜线松）。由于该生态系统中的松树补充已被证明存在问题，因此恢复工作需要包括重新种植砍伐松树。尽管已知外生菌根真菌是幼松的关键共生体并且是健康松树发育所必需的，但对于这些互惠生菌及其在松树岩地的松树建立和生存中的作用几乎一无所知。改善松树建立的一种方法是在移栽前在苗圃中种植幼苗，促进与外生菌根的早期关联，从而改善幼苗健康。在这项研究中，我们比较了健康指标（高度、茎直径、最终针长、根长、根定植、针绿度、根体积和根：在用五种市售菌根接种物修正的土壤中生长的幼苗与从三个松树岩地碎片收集的田间土壤的比较。在除根长之外的所有指标中，使用来自松树岩地的原生田间土壤种植的幼苗通常比使用商业接种物种植的幼苗表现更好。根据他们的标签，每个商业接种物含有 4 到 10 种外生菌根真菌。然而，从两种接种产品中没有回收到外生菌根真菌，从其他三种产品中总共只回收到三种外生菌根真菌。相比之下，用田间土壤种植的幼苗与十种外生菌根有关。