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Le Noir de Carlan C, Kaarlejärvi E, De Tender C, Heinecke T, Eskelinen A, Verbruggen E. Shifts in mycorrhizal types of fungi and plants in response to fertilisation, warming and herbivory in a tundra grassland. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 243:1190-1204. [PMID: 38742310 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Climate warming is severely affecting high-latitude regions. In the Arctic tundra, it may lead to enhanced soil nutrient availability and interact with simultaneous changes in grazing pressure. It is presently unknown how these concurrently occurring global change drivers affect the root-associated fungal communities, particularly mycorrhizal fungi, and whether changes coincide with shifts in plant mycorrhizal types. We investigated changes in root-associated fungal communities and mycorrhizal types of the plant community in a 10-yr factorial experiment with warming, fertilisation and grazing exclusion in a Finnish tundra grassland. The strongest determinant of the root-associated fungal community was fertilisation, which consistently increased potential plant pathogen abundance and had contrasting effects on the different mycorrhizal fungal types, contingent on other treatments. Plant mycorrhizal types went through pronounced shifts, with warming favouring ecto- and ericoid mycorrhiza but not under fertilisation and grazing exclusion. Combination of all treatments resulted in dominance by arbuscular mycorrhizal plants. However, shifts in plant mycorrhizal types vs fungi were mostly but not always aligned in their magnitude and direction. Our results show that our ability to predict shifts in symbiotic and antagonistic fungal communities depend on simultaneous consideration of multiple global change factors that jointly alter plant and fungal communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Coline Le Noir de Carlan
- Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Elina Kaarlejärvi
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1), Helsinki, FI-00014, Finland
| | - Caroline De Tender
- Plant Sciences Unit, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 96-109, 9820, Merelbeke, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Thilo Heinecke
- Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Anu Eskelinen
- Ecology & Genetics, University of Oulu, PO Box 8000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Puschstraße 4, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Erik Verbruggen
- Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
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Lundgren EJ, Bergman J, Trepel J, le Roux E, Monsarrat S, Kristensen JA, Pedersen RØ, Pereyra P, Tietje M, Svenning JC. Functional traits-not nativeness-shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities. Science 2024; 383:531-537. [PMID: 38301018 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh2616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory. Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects on plants compared with native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies, we found no evidence that megafauna impacts were shaped by nativeness, "invasiveness," "feralness," coevolutionary history, or functional and phylogenetic novelty. Nor was there evidence that introduced megafauna facilitate introduced plants more than native megafauna. Instead, we found strong evidence that functional traits shaped megafauna impacts, with larger-bodied and bulk-feeding megafauna promoting plant diversity. Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than do concepts of nativeness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erick J Lundgren
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia
| | - Juraj Bergman
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jonas Trepel
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Conservation Biology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Elizabeth le Roux
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, South Africa
- Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Sophie Monsarrat
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Rewilding Europe, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Rasmus Østergaard Pedersen
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Patricio Pereyra
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones, Científicas y Técnicas, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Centro de Investigación Aplicada y Transferencia, Tecnológica en Recursos Marinos Almirante Storni (CIMAS), San Antonio Oeste, Argentina
| | - Melanie Tietje
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Fu L, Xie R, Ma D, Zhang M, Liu L. Variations in soil microbial community structure and extracellular enzymatic activities along a forest-wetland ecotone in high-latitude permafrost regions. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10205. [PMID: 37332520 PMCID: PMC10269122 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2023] [Revised: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Permafrost degradation by global warming is expected to alter the hydrological processes, which results in changes in vegetation species composition and gives rise to community succession. Ecotones are sensitive transition areas between ecosystem boundaries, attract particular interest due to their ecological importance and prompt responses to the environmental variables. However, the characteristics of soil microbial communities and extracellular enzymes along the forest-wetland ecotone in high-latitude permafrost region remain poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the variations of soil bacterial and fungal community structures and soil extracellular enzymatic activities of 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil layers in five different wetland types along environmental gradients, including Larix gmelinii swamp (LY), Betula platyphylla swamp (BH), Alnus sibirica var. hirsute swamp (MCY), thicket swamp (GC), and tussock swamp (CC). The relative abundances of some dominant bacterial (Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia) and fungal (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) phyla differed significantly among different wetlands, while bacterial and fungal alpha diversity was not strongly affected by soil depth. PCoA results showed that vegetation type, rather than soil depth explained more variation of soil microbial community structure. β-glucosidase and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase activities were significantly lower in GC and CC than in LY, BH, and MCY, while acid phosphatase activity was significantly higher in BH and GC than LY and CC. Altogether, the data suggest that soil moisture content (SMC) was the most important environmental factor contributing to the bacterial and fungal communities, while extracellular enzymatic activities were closely related to soil total organic carbon (TOC), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) and total phosphorus (TP).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingyu Fu
- College of Geographical SciencesHarbin Normal UniversityHarbinChina
| | - Ruifeng Xie
- College of Geographical SciencesHarbin Normal UniversityHarbinChina
| | - Dalong Ma
- College of Geographical SciencesHarbin Normal UniversityHarbinChina
| | - Man Zhang
- College of Geographical SciencesHarbin Normal UniversityHarbinChina
| | - Lin Liu
- College of Geographical SciencesHarbin Normal UniversityHarbinChina
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Ylänne H, Madsen RL, Castaño C, Metcalfe DB, Clemmensen KE. Reindeer control over subarctic treeline alters soil fungal communities with potential consequences for soil carbon storage. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:4254-4268. [PMID: 34028938 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The climate-driven encroachment of shrubs into the Arctic is accompanied by shifts in soil fungal communities that could contribute to a net release of carbon from tundra soils. At the same time, arctic grazers are known to prevent the establishment of deciduous shrubs and, under certain conditions, promote the dominance of evergreen shrubs. As these different vegetation types associate with contrasting fungal communities, the belowground consequences of climate change could vary among grazing regimes. Yet, at present, the impact of grazing on soil fungal communities and their links to soil carbon have remained speculative. Here we tested how soil fungal community composition, diversity and function depend on tree vicinity and long-term reindeer grazing regime and assessed how the fungal communities relate to organic soil carbon stocks in an alpine treeline ecotone in Northern Scandinavia. We determined soil carbon stocks and characterized soil fungal communities directly underneath and >3 m away from mountain birches (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) in two adjacent 55-year-old grazing regimes with or without summer grazing by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). We show that the area exposed to year-round grazing dominated by evergreen dwarf shrubs had higher soil C:N ratio, higher fungal abundance and lower fungal diversity compared with the area with only winter grazing and higher abundance of mountain birch. Although soil carbon stocks did not differ between the grazing regimes, stocks were positively associated with root-associated ascomycetes, typical to the year-round grazing regime, and negatively associated with free-living saprotrophs, typical to the winter grazing regime. These findings suggest that when grazers promote dominance of evergreen dwarf shrubs, they induce shifts in soil fungal communities that increase soil carbon sequestration in the long term. Thus, to predict climate-driven changes in soil carbon, grazer-induced shifts in vegetation and soil fungal communities need to be accounted for.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henni Ylänne
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | | | - Carles Castaño
- Uppsala BioCenter, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Daniel B Metcalfe
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Karina E Clemmensen
- Uppsala BioCenter, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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Faghihinia M, Zou Y, Bai Y, Marrs R, Staddon PL. Seasonal variation in the response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to grazing intensity. MYCORRHIZA 2020; 30:635-646. [PMID: 32647970 DOI: 10.1007/s00572-020-00974-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Despite existing evidence of pronounced seasonality in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities, little is known about the ecology of AM fungi in response to grazing intensity in different seasons. Here, we assessed AM fungal abundance, represented by soil hyphal length density (HLD), mycorrhizal root colonization intensity (MI), and arbuscule intensity (AI) throughout three seasons (spring, summer, autumn) in a farm-scale field experiment in typical, grazed steppe vegetation in northern China. Seven levels of field-manipulated, grazing intensities had been maintained for over 13 years within two topographies, flat and slope. We also measured soil nutrients and carbon content throughout the growing season to investigate whether seasonal variation in AM fungal abundance was related to seasonal shifts in soil resource availability along the grazing gradient. We further examined the association between AM fungal metrics in the different grazing treatments through the growing season. Our results showed a pronounced seasonal shift in HLD but there was no clear seasonality in MI and AI. HLD was significantly negatively related to grazing intensity over the course of the growing season from spring to autumn. However, MI and AI were related negatively to grazing intensity only in spring. In addition, differential responses of AM fungal abundance to grazing intensity at the two topographical sites were detected. No strong evidence was found for associations between AM fungal abundance and soil resource availability. Moreover, AM fungal internal and external abundance were correlated positively under the different grazing intensities throughout the growing season. Overall, our study suggests that external AM fungal structures in soil were more responsive to seasonal variation and grazing than internal structures in roots. The findings also suggest that early grazing may be detrimental to AM fungal root colonization of newly emerged plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maede Faghihinia
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, UK
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yi Zou
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Yongfei Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
| | - Rob Marrs
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, UK
| | - Philip L Staddon
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China
- Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, GL50 4AZ, UK
- School for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Royal Agricultural University, Cheltenham, GL7 6JS, UK
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Olofsson J, Post E. Effects of large herbivores on tundra vegetation in a changing climate, and implications for rewilding. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 373:rstb.2017.0437. [PMID: 30348880 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In contrast to that of the Pleistocene epoch, between approximately 2.6 million and 10 000 years before present, the extant community of large herbivores in Arctic tundra is species-poor predominantly due to human extinctions. We here discuss how this species-poor herbivore guild influences tundra ecosystems, especially in relation to the rapidly changing climate. We show that present herbivore assemblages have large effects on tundra ecosystem composition and function and suggest that the effect on thermophilic species expected to invade the tundra in a warmer climate is especially strong, and that herbivores slow ecosystem responses to climate change. We focus on the ability of herbivores to drive transitions between different vegetation states. One such transition is between tundra and forest. A second vegetation transition discussed is between grasslands and moss- and shrub-dominated tundra. Contemporary studies show that herbivores can drive such state shifts and that a more diverse herbivore assemblage would have even higher potential to do so. We conclude that even though many large herbivores, and especially the megaherbivores, are extinct, there is a potential to reintroduce large herbivores in many arctic locations, and that doing so would potentially reduce some of the unwanted effects of a warmer climate.This article is part of the theme issue 'Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Olofsson
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Eric Post
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Vowles T, Lindwall F, Ekblad A, Bahram M, Furneaux BR, Ryberg M, Björk RG. Complex effects of mammalian grazing on extramatrical mycelial biomass in the Scandes forest-tundra ecotone. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:1019-1030. [PMID: 29375775 PMCID: PMC5773333 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2017] [Revised: 10/17/2017] [Accepted: 11/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Mycorrhizal associations are widespread in high-latitude ecosystems and are potentially of great importance for global carbon dynamics. Although large herbivores play a key part in shaping subarctic plant communities, their impact on mycorrhizal dynamics is largely unknown. We measured extramatrical mycelial (EMM) biomass during one growing season in 16-year-old herbivore exclosures and unenclosed control plots (ambient), at three mountain birch forests and two shrub heath sites, in the Scandes forest-tundra ecotone. We also used high-throughput amplicon sequencing for taxonomic identification to investigate differences in fungal species composition. At the birch forest sites, EMM biomass was significantly higher in exclosures (1.36 ± 0.43 g C/m2) than in ambient conditions (0.66 ± 0.17 g C/m2) and was positively influenced by soil thawing degree-days. At the shrub heath sites, there was no significant effect on EMM biomass (exclosures: 0.72 ± 0.09 g C/m2; ambient plots: 1.43 ± 0.94). However, EMM biomass was negatively related to Betula nana abundance, which was greater in exclosures, suggesting that grazing affected EMM biomass positively. We found no significant treatment effects on fungal diversity but the most abundant ectomycorrhizal lineage/cortinarius, showed a near-significant positive effect of herbivore exclusion (p = .08), indicating that herbivory also affects fungal community composition. These results suggest that herbivory can influence fungal biomass in highly context-dependent ways in subarctic ecosystems. Considering the importance of root-associated fungi for ecosystem carbon balance, these findings could have far-reaching implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tage Vowles
- Department of Earth SciencesUniversity of GothenburgGothenburgSweden
- Department of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of GothenburgGothenburgSweden
| | - Frida Lindwall
- Terrestrial EcologyDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
- Center for PermafrostDepartment of Geoscience and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Alf Ekblad
- School of Science and TechnologyÖrebro UniversityÖrebroSweden
| | - Mohammad Bahram
- Department of Organismal BiologyUppsala UniversityUppsalaSweden
- Department of BotanyInstitute of Ecology and Earth SciencesUniversity of TartuTartuEstonia
| | | | - Martin Ryberg
- Department of Organismal BiologyUppsala UniversityUppsalaSweden
| | - Robert G. Björk
- Department of Earth SciencesUniversity of GothenburgGothenburgSweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity CentreGothenburgSweden
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