Contrasting responses of soil fungal communities and soil respiration to the above‐ and below‐ground plant C inputs in a subtropical forest

Author(s):  
Lingling Shi ◽  
Wenting Feng ◽  
Xin Jing ◽  
Huadong Zang ◽  
Peter Edward Mortimer ◽  
...  

<p>The roles of soil fungal diversity and community composition in regulating soil respiration when above‐ and below‐ground plant carbon (C) inputs are excluded remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to examine: (i) how does the exclusion of above‐ and below‐ground plant C inputs affect soil respiration and soil fungi singly and in combination? and (ii) are changes in soil fungal diversity aligned with changes in soil respiration? A field experiment with manipulation of plant C inputs was established in a subtropical forest in southwest China in 2004 with litter removal and tree stem‐girdling to exclude inputs of the above‐ and below‐ground plant C, respectively. In 2009, we measured the rates of soil respiration with an infrared gas analyser and soil fungal community structure using Illumina sequencing. We found that the rates of soil respiration were reduced significantly by litter removal and girdling, by similar magnitudes. However, they were not decreased further by the combination of these two treatments compared to either treatment alone. In contrast, litter removal increased the diversity of soil fungal communities, whereas girdling decreased the abundance of symbiotrophic fungi but increased the abundance of saptrotrophic and pathotrophic fungi. These changes in soil fungal community might initiate CO2 emission from soil C decomposition, offsetting further decline in soil respiration when plant C inputs are excluded. These results revealed that the exclusion of the above‐ and below‐ground plant C inputs led to contrasting soil fungal communities but similar soil function. Our findings suggest that both above‐ and below‐ground plant C are important in regulating soil respiration in subtropical forests, by limiting substrates for soil fungal growth and altering the diversity and composition of soil fungal community.</p>

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuntao Yin ◽  
Daniel C. Schlatter ◽  
Duncan R. Kroese ◽  
Timothy C. Paulitz ◽  
Christina H. Hagerty

Liming is an effective agricultural practice and is broadly used to ameliorate soil acidification in agricultural ecosystems. Our understanding of the impacts of lime application on the soil fungal community is scarce. In this study, we explored the responses of fungal communities to liming at two locations with decreasing soil pH in Oregon in the Pacific Northwest using high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). Our results revealed that the location and liming did not significantly affect soil fungal diversity and richness, and the impact of soil depth on fungal diversity varied among locations. In contrast, location and soil depth had a strong effect on the structure and composition of soil fungal communities, whereas the impact of liming was much smaller, and location- and depth-dependent. Interestingly, families Lasiosphaeriaceae, Piskurozymaceae, and Sordariaceae predominated in the surface soil (0–7.5 cm) and were positively correlated with soil OM and aluminum, and negatively correlated with pH. The family Kickxellaceae which predominated in deeper soil (15–22.5 cm), had an opposite response to soil OM. Furthermore, some taxa in Ascomycota, such as Hypocreales, Peziza and Penicillium, were increased by liming at one of the locations (Moro). In conclusion, these findings suggest that fungal community structure and composition rather than fungal diversity responded to location, soil depth and liming. Compared to liming, location and depth had a stronger effect on the soil fungal community, but some specific fungal taxa shifted with lime application.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1535
Author(s):  
Kaire Loit ◽  
Liina Soonvald ◽  
Alar Astover ◽  
Eve Runno-Paurson ◽  
Maarja Öpik ◽  
...  

The soil fungal community plays an important role in determining plant growth and health. In this study, we investigated the fungal diversity and community composition in the roots and soil of 21 potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars using high-throughput sequencing at three different time points across the growing season. In soil and roots, the fungal richness and relative abundance of pathogens and saprotrophs were mainly affected by sampling time. While sampling time affected fungal composition in soil, root fungal communities were also significantly affected by cultivar. The cultivar had the strongest effect on diversity of pathogens and abundance of particular pathogen species. Our results demonstrate changes in soil and root fungal communities of potato over the growing season, as well as highlighting the importance of potato cultivar on root fungal communities and abundance of pathogens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Hongyu Cao ◽  
Peishan Zhao ◽  
Xiaoshuai Wei ◽  
Guodong Ding ◽  
...  

Revegetation is regarded as an effective means to improve the ecological environment in deserts and profoundly influences the potential ecological functions of the soil fungal community. Therefore, Illumina high-throughput sequencing was performed to characterize the soil fungal diversity and community composition at two soil depths (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm) with four revegetation durations (natural grassland, half-mature, nearly mature, and mature Pinus. sylvestris var. mongolica plantations) in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China. The effects of soil properties on soil fungal communities were also examined to reveal the connection between fungal function and soil environment. The results indicated that 1) soil nutrient content and enzyme activity showed significant differences through the restoration durations, 2) there was no significant effect of soil depth on soil fungal diversity, while the Shannon diversity index of all fungal communities was significantly different among different revegetation durations, 3) compared with grassland, ectomycorrhizal fungi (notably, Inocybe, Tuber, and Calostoma) were abundant in plantations. The endophyte fungus Mortierella was among the top 10 genera in all soil samples and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Diversispora was the indicator genus of the grassland, and 4) catalase and total nitrogen were the main factors affecting fungal community composition and were closely related to saprotrophs and pathotrophs, respectively. This new information indicates the variation of soil fungal communities along revegetation durations and highlights the interaction between fungal functions and desert ecosystems.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 20150408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Pansu ◽  
Richard C. Winkworth ◽  
Françoise Hennion ◽  
Ludovic Gielly ◽  
Pierre Taberlet ◽  
...  

During the late nineteenth century, Europeans introduced rabbits to many of the sub-Antarctic islands, environments that prior to this had been devoid of mammalian herbivores. The impacts of rabbits on indigenous ecosystems are well studied; notably, they cause dramatic changes in plant communities and promote soil erosion. However, the responses of fungal communities to such biotic disturbances remain unexplored. We used metabarcoding of soil extracellular DNA to assess the diversity of plant and fungal communities at sites on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands with contrasting histories of disturbance by rabbits. Our results suggest that on these islands, the simplification of plant communities and increased erosion resulting from the introduction of rabbits have driven compositional changes, including diversity reductions, in indigenous soil fungal communities. Moreover, there is no indication of recovery at sites from which rabbits were removed 20 years ago. These results imply that introduced herbivores have long-lasting and multifaceted effects on fungal biodiversity as well as highlight the low resiliency of sub-Antarctic ecosystems.


Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 324
Author(s):  
Brianna K. Almeida ◽  
Michael S. Ross ◽  
Susana L. Stoffella ◽  
Jay P. Sah ◽  
Eric Cline ◽  
...  

Fungi play prominent roles in ecosystem services (e.g., nutrient cycling, decomposition) and thus have increasingly garnered attention in restoration ecology. However, it is unclear how most management decisions impact fungal communities, making it difficult to protect fungal diversity and utilize fungi to improve restoration success. To understand the effects of restoration decisions and environmental variation on fungal communities, we sequenced soil fungal microbiomes from 96 sites across eight experimental Everglades tree islands approximately 15 years after restoration occurred. We found that early restoration decisions can have enduring consequences for fungal communities. Factors experimentally manipulated in 2003–2007 (e.g., type of island core) had significant legacy effects on fungal community composition. Our results also emphasized the role of water regime in fungal diversity, composition, and function. As the relative water level decreased, so did fungal diversity, with an approximately 25% decline in the driest sites. Further, as the water level decreased, the abundance of the plant pathogen–saprotroph guild increased, suggesting that low water may increase plant-pathogen interactions. Our results indicate that early restoration decisions can have long-term consequences for fungal community composition and function and suggest that a drier future in the Everglades could reduce fungal diversity on imperiled tree islands.


Author(s):  
Kaire Loit ◽  
Liina Soonvald ◽  
Alar Astover ◽  
Eve Runno-Paurson ◽  
Maarja Öpik ◽  
...  

The rhizosphere fungal community can play an important role in determining plant growth and health. In this study, using high-throughput sequencing, we investigated the fungal diversity and community composition in the roots and rhizosphere soil of 21 potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars. The samples were collected at three different sampling points. Furthermore, we assessed the differences in both diversity and composition of pathogen and saprotroph communities. In soil and roots, the fungal richness and relative abundance of pathogens and saprotrophs were mainly affected by sampling time. However, root fungal communities were also significantly affected by cultivar. The most substantial effect of cultivar was on root pathogen diversity. Moreover, the occurrence of most pathogens strongly varied among cultivars. Soil fungal community composition was primarily determined by sampling time; whereas in roots, the primary determinant was cultivar. Our results demonstrate changes in fungal communities over the potato growing season, as well as highlight the importance of potato cultivar on root fungal communities, and emphasise their importance in plant breeding.


2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
An Bui ◽  
Devyn Orr ◽  
Michelle Lepori-Bui ◽  
Kelli Konicek ◽  
Hillary S Young ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT A large part of ecosystem function in woodland systems depends on soil fungal communities. However, global climate change has the potential to fundamentally alter these communities as fungal species are filtered with changing environmental conditions. In this study, we examined the potential effects of climate on host-associated (i.e. tree-associated) soil fungal communities at climatically distinct sites in the Tehachapi Mountains in California, where more arid conditions represent likely regional climate futures. We found that soil fungal community composition changes strongly across sites, with species richness and diversity being highest at the most arid site. However, host association may buffer the effects of climate on community composition, as host-associated fungal communities are more similar to each other across climatically distinct sites than the whole fungal community. Lastly, an examination of functional traits for ectomycorrhizal fungi, a well-studied guild of fungal mutualist species, showed that stress-tolerant traits were more abundant at arid sites than mesic sites, providing a mechanistic understanding of these community patterns. Taken together, our results indicate that fungal community composition will likely shift with future climate change but that host association may buffer these effects, with shifts in functional traits having implications for future ecosystem function.


2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sudini ◽  
C. R. Arias ◽  
M. R. Liles ◽  
K. L. Bowen ◽  
R. N. Huettel

The present study focuses on determining soil fungal community structure in different peanut-cropping sequences by using a high-resolution DNA fingerprinting technique: ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA). This study was initiated to determine fungal community profiles in four peanut-cropping sequences (continuous peanut, 4 years of continuous bahiagrass followed by peanut, peanut-corn-cotton, and peanut-cotton rotations), with a special focus to evaluate whether the profiles under investigation may have also indicated microbial differences that could affect Aspergillus flavus populations. Results indicated 75% similarities among fungal communities from the same cropping sequences as well as with similar times of sampling. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection of A. flavus directly from these soils was carried out using A. flavus-specific primers (FLA1 and FLA2) and also through quantitative estimation on A. flavus and A. parasiticus agar medium. Population levels of A. flavus in soil samples ranged from zero to 1.2 × 103 CFU g–1 of soil (based on culturable methods); however, the fungus was not detected with A. flavus-specific primers. The minimum threshold limit at which these aflatoxin-producing fungi could be detected from the total soil genomic DNA was determined through artificial inoculation of samples with 10-fold increases in concentrations. The results indicated that a minimum population density of 2.6 × 106 CFU g–1 of soil is required for PCR detection in our conditions. These results are useful in further determining the relative population levels of these fungi in peanut soils with other soil fungi. This is a new approach to understanding soil fungal communities and how they might change over time and under different rotation systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 2280
Author(s):  
Xueying Wang ◽  
Guixiang Li ◽  
Yuxin Zhang ◽  
Keming Ma

The treeline is a sensitive region of the terrestrial ecosystem responding to climate change. However, studies on the composition and formation mechanisms of soil fungal communities across the treeline are still lacking. In this study, we investigated the patterns of soil fungal community composition and interactions among functional guilds above and below the treeline using Illumina high-throughput sequencing and ecological network analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in the soil environment and soil fungal community composition between the two ecosystems above and below the treeline. At the local scale of this study, geographic distance and environmental factors affected the composition of the soil fungal community. Soil temperature was an important environmental predictor of soil fungal community composition. Species in soil fungal communities in the subalpine meadow were more closely related to each other compared to those in the montane forest. Furthermore, the soil fungal community in montane forest was more stable. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how mountain ecological functions respond to global climate change.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (22) ◽  
pp. 7869-7880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Minna Santalahti ◽  
Jukka Pumpanen ◽  
Kajar Köster ◽  
Frank Berninger ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTForest fires are a common natural disturbance in forested ecosystems and have a large impact on the microbial communities in forest soils. The response of soil fungal communities to forest fire is poorly documented. Here, we investigated fungal community structure and function across a 152-year boreal forest fire chronosequence using high-throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region and a functional gene array (GeoChip). Our results demonstrate that the boreal forest soil fungal community was most diverse soon after a fire disturbance and declined over time. The differences in the fungal communities were explained by changes in the abundance of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi contributed to the increase in basidiomycete abundance over time, with the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) representing the generaCortinariusandPilodermadominating in abundance. Hierarchical cluster analysis by using gene signal intensity revealed that the sites with different fire histories formed separate clusters, suggesting differences in the potential to maintain essential biogeochemical soil processes. The site with the greatest biological diversity had also the most diverse genes. The genes involved in organic matter degradation in the mature forest, in which ECM fungi were the most abundant, were as common in the youngest site, in which saprotrophic fungi had a relatively higher abundance. This study provides insight into the impact of fire disturbance on soil fungal community dynamics.


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