Conversion of a High-Altitude Temperate Forest for Agriculture Reduced Alpha and Beta Diversity of the Soil Fungal Communities as Revealed by a Metabarcoding Analysis

Abstract

Land-use change is one of the most important drivers of change in biodiversity. Deforestation for grazing or agriculture has transformed large areas of temperate forest in the central highlands of Mexico, but its impact on soil fungal communities is still largely unknown. In this study, we determined how deforestation of a high-altitude temperate forest for cultivation of maize (Zea mays L.) or husbandry altered the taxonomic, phylogenetic, functional, and beta diversity of soil fungal communities using a 18S rRNA metabarcoding analysis. The true taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity at order q = 1, i.e., considering frequent operational taxonomic units, decreased significantly in the arable, but not in the pasture soil. The beta diversity decreased in the order forest > pasture > arable soil. The ordination analysis showed a clear effect of intensity of land-use as the forest soil clustered closer to pasture than to the arable soil. The most abundant fungal phyla in the studied soils were Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Mucoromycota. Deforestation more than halved the relative abundance of Basidiomycota; mostly Agaricomycetes, such as Lactarius and Inocybe. The relative abundance of Glomeromycota decreased in the order pasture > forest > arable soil. Symbiotrophs, especially ectomycorrhizal fungi, were negatively affected by deforestation while pathotrophs, especially animal pathogens, were enriched in the pasture and arable soil. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were more abundant in the forest soil as they are usually associated with conifers. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were more abundant in the pasture than in the arable soil as the higher plant diversity provided more suitable hosts. Changes in fungal communities resulting from land-use change can provide important information for soil management and the assessment of the environmental impact of deforestation and conversion of vulnerable ecosystems such as high-altitude temperate forests.

Legacy of land-cover changes on soil microbiology in Burgundy vineyards (Pernand-Vergelesses, France)

“…These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that, at the phylum level, Basidiomycota are predominant in forest environments, whereas Ascomycota and Mucoromycota prevail in agricultural lands and grasslands (George et al, 2019;Navarro-Noya et al, 2021).…”

Checklist of Basidiomycota and New Records from the Azores Archipelago

“…Forests are the main habitat of many macrofungi; consequently, modifications in vegetation cover are associated with an inevitable change in fungal diversity. Several studies show that deforestation leads to changes in the composition of soil fungi and reduces fungal diversity [130,131], especially among Basidiomycota [132,133]. In the case The ecology of each species was determined from the general bibliography for each taxon and the latest updated checklists for each archipelago (Figure 6).…”