Ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi respond differently to long‐term experimentally increased snow depth in the High Arctic

Abstract

Changing climate is expected to alter precipitation patterns in the Arctic, with consequences for subsurface temperature and moisture conditions, community structure, and nutrient mobilization through microbial belowground processes. Here, we address the effect of increased snow depth on the variation in species richness and community structure of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and saprotrophic fungi. Soil samples were collected weekly from mid‐July to mid‐September in both control and deep snow plots. Richness of ECM fungi was lower, while saprotrophic fungi was higher in increased snow depth plots relative to controls. [Correction added on 23 September 2016 after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, the richness of ECM and saprotrophic fungi were wrongly interchanged and have been fixed in this current version.] ECM fungal richness was related to soil NO 3‐N, NH 4‐N, and K; and saprotrophic fungi to NO 3‐N and pH. Small but significant changes in the composition of saprotrophic fungi could be attributed to snow treatment and sampling time, but not so for the ECM fungi. Delayed snow melt did not influence the temporal variation in fungal communities between the treatments. Results suggest that some fungal species are favored, while others are disfavored resulting in their local extinction due to long‐term changes in snow amount. Shifts in species composition of fungal functional groups are likely to affect nutrient cycling, ecosystem respiration, and stored permafrost carbon.

Abrupt changes in the composition and function of fungal communities along an environmental gradient in the high Arctic

“…Several studies have experimentally demonstrated that the composition and function of fungal communities shift in response to increased snow accumulation or temperature (Deslippe, Hartmann, Simard, & Mohn, ; Geml et al., , ; Morgado et al., , ; Mundra et al., ; Semenova et al., , ). However, further investigations are needed, since complex interactions may occur with habitat type (Morgado et al., ), changes in N deposition (Lilleskov et al., ), date of snowmelt (Schmidt et al., ), microbial activity in winter (Aanderud, Jones, Schoolmaster, Fierer, & Lennon, ; Buckeridge & Grogan, ; Schimel, Bilbrough, & Welker, ; Semenchuk et al., ), floristic composition or climatic variability.…”

“…Several studies have experimentally demonstrated that the composition and function of fungal communities shift in response to increased snow accumulation or temperature (Deslippe, Hartmann, Simard, & Mohn, 2012;Geml et al, 2015Geml et al, , 2016Morgado et al, 2015Morgado et al, , 2016Mundra et al, 2016;Semenova et al, 2015Semenova et al, , 2016.…”

Yeasts dominate soil fungal communities in three lowland Neotropical rainforests

“…While temperate, boreal and arctic soil fungi communities have been examined in detail using environmental high‐throughput sequencing methodologies (e.g., O'Brien et al ., ; Clemmensen et al ., ; Tedersoo et al ., ; Mundra et al ., ), the diversity of soil fungal communities in the tropics is relatively rarely sampled. For example, Tedersoo et al .…”

“…While temperate, boreal and arctic soil fungi communities have been examined in detail using environmental high-throughput sequencing methodologies (e.g., O'Brien et al, 2005;Clemmensen et al, 2013;Tedersoo et al, 2014;Mundra et al, 2016), the diversity of soil fungal communities in the tropics is relatively rarely sampled. For example, Tedersoo et al (2014) found the Agaricomycotina to be dominating the fungal communities in their Neotropical forests sites and that Yeasts comprised less than 1% of their operational taxonomic units (OTUs).…”

Yeasts dominate soil fungal communities in three lowland Neotropical rainforests

“…While temperate, boreal and arctic soil fungi communities have been examined in detail using environmental high-throughput sequencing methodologies (e.g., Clemmensen et al, 2013;Mundra et al, 2016;O'Brien et al, 2005;Tedersoo et al, 2014), the diversity of soil fungal communities in the tropics is relatively rarely sampled. For example, Tedersoo et al (2014) found the Agaricomycotina to be dominating the fungal communities in their Neotropical forests sites and that Yeasts comprised less than 1% of their operational taxonomic units (OTUs).…”