| Abstract Detail
MSA - Ecology/Pathology Edwards, Ivan [1], Zak, Donald [2]. Assembling the fungal community: dominant ecological process is conditional on forest ecosystem type. Fungi form species-rich and phylogenetically diverse communities in the soil of temperate forests and mediate key processes in cycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil. Although community composition may affect the range and rate of C and N transformations, we have a poor understanding of the ecological processes that drive fungal community assembly. We used molecular and phylogenetic approaches to survey fungal communities in the forest floor and soil of three different mature temperate upland hardwood forest types in replicated stands across the landscape. Our results demonstrate that generally, most fungal species had very patchy distributions. Vertical stratification between the two soil horizons accounted for 20% of the variance in species distribution, whereas forest type accounted for <10%. However, phylogenetic lineage analysis revealed that the three forest types harbored distinct communities. Two forest types characterized by low pH soils and high lignin litters showed the greatest species and lineage overlap, driven by ectomycorrhizal Russula and Cortinarius spp. in the soil, and saprotrophic Mycena and Collybia spp. in the forest floor. Moreover, in these forest types, both the ectomycorrhizal and the saprotrophic agaricomycete communities exhibited significant phylogenetic clustering at both the landscape and the local scale, suggesting that ecological filtering is the dominant process in community assembly. In contrast, the fungal communities of a more mesic sugar-maple dominated forest type were more phylogenetically diverse and showed no phylogenetic structure. Community assembly in this forest type may be driven more by stochastic factors. Overall, our results indicate that the dominant ecological factors driving fungal community assembly may be conditional on forest type, and underscore the potential value of community phylogenetic approaches in microbial ecology.
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1 - University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources, 440 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1041, USA
2 - University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources, 440 Church St., Ann Arbor, 48109-1041, USA
Keywords:
phylogenetic community analysis
saprophytic fungi
ectomycorrhizal fungi.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 18
Location: Cottonwood A/Snowbird Center
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2009
Time: 10:15 AM
Number: 18001
Abstract ID:538 |
