1
|
Weißbecker C, Wubet T, Lentendu G, Kühn P, Scholten T, Bruelheide H, Buscot F. Experimental Evidence of Functional Group-Dependent Effects of Tree Diversity on Soil Fungi in Subtropical Forests. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2312. [PMID: 30356699 PMCID: PMC6189305 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Deconvoluting the relative contributions made by specific biotic and abiotic drivers to soil fungal community compositions facilitates predictions about the functional responses of ecosystems to environmental changes, such as losses of plant diversity, but it is hindered by the complex interactions involved. Experimental assembly of tree species allows separation of the respective effects of plant community composition (biotic components) and soil properties (abiotic components), enabling much greater statistical power than can be achieved in observational studies. We therefore analyzed these contributions by assessing, via pyrotag sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) rDNA region, fungal communities in young subtropical forest plots included in a large experiment on the effects of tree species richness. Spatial variables and soil properties were the main drivers of soil fungal alpha and beta-diversity, implying strong early-stage environmental filtering and dispersal limitation. Tree related variables, such as tree community composition, significantly affected arbuscular mycorrhizal and pathogen fungal community structure, while differences in tree host species and host abundance affected ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition. At this early stage of the experiment, only a limited amount of carbon inputs (rhizodeposits and leaf litter) was being provided to the ecosystem due to the size of the tree saplings, and persisting legacy effects were observed. We thus expect to find increasing tree related effects on fungal community composition as forest development proceeds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christina Weißbecker
- Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tesfaye Wubet
- Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Guillaume Lentendu
- Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.,Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Peter Kühn
- Chair of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Scholten
- Chair of Soil Science and Geomorphology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Helge Bruelheide
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - François Buscot
- Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|