Diversity and ecology of soil fungal communities in rubber plantations

Monkai, Jutamart; Hyde, Kevin D.; Xu, Jianchu; Mortimer, Peter E.

doi:10.1016/j.fbr.2016.08.003

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…To better understand the consequences of forest conversion for the taxonomic and functional composition of soil fungi, studies across different landscapes in relation to land use systems and plant diversity loss are required. Such approaches are urgently needed for recommendations for sustainable land use 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensive tropical land use massively shifts soil fungal communities

Brinkmann

Schneider

Sahner

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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soil fungi are key players in nutrient cycles as decomposers, mutualists and pathogens, but the impact of tropical rain forest transformation into rubber or oil palm plantations on fungal community structures and their ecological functions are unknown. We hypothesized that increasing land use intensity and habitat loss due to the replacement of the hyperdiverse forest flora by nonendemic cash crops drives a drastic loss of diversity of soil fungal taxa and impairs the ecological soil functions. Unexpectedly, rain forest conversion was not associated with strong diversity loss but with massive shifts in soil fungal community composition. Fungal communities clustered according to land use system and loss of plant species. Network analysis revealed characteristic fungal genera significantly associated with different land use systems. Shifts in soil fungal community structure were particularly distinct among different trophic groups, with substantial decreases in symbiotrophic fungi and increases in saprotrophic and pathotrophic fungi in oil palm and rubber plantations in comparison with rain forests. In conclusion, conversion of rain forests and current land use systems restructure soil fungal communities towards enhanced pathogen pressure and, thus, threaten ecosystem health functions.Tropical rain forests are the planet's most species-rich biomes 1 . In the past two decades, tropical rain forests in many parts of the world have been rapidly converted to monospecific plantations 2 . As a result, deforestation and human land use have irretrievably destroyed large areas of unique rain forests and enforced biodiversity loss 3,4 . High plant diversities are associated with active, abundant and diverse fungal communities 5-7 . Plant diversity was, therefore, predicted to be a strong driver of fungal species richness in soils of tropical rain forests 7-9 . However, the consequences of rain forest transformation into agricultural land for soil fungal diversity and the ecological functions of these fungi are not well understood.Soil fungi are integral components of ecosystems, driving nutrient cycling as decomposers 10-13 , regulating species composition as pathogens 14 and providing mutualistic benefits as symbiotrophs, thereby playing a key role in biogeochemical processes 15,16 and in soil health 17,18 . Because of their important functions, the impact of deforestation and land use intensification on soil fungal communities in the tropics is receiving increasing attention. To date, only a few studies have used next-generation sequencing methods to characterize soil fungal communities after the conversion of rain forests into agricultural land [19][20][21][22] . Those studies focused mainly on distinct fungal groups such as mycorrhizae and the turnover of their community structure in response to distinct land use systems such as the conversion of rain forest into pasture or cash crop plantations with oil palms or rubber trees [19][20][21][22] . However, approaches linking land use systems or aboveground vegetation divers...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensive tropical land use massively shifts soil fungal communities

Brinkmann

Schneider

Sahner

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In addition some species, especially edibles, are an important source of income and a significant component of the diet, particularly in developing countries and remote regions [10]. Unfortunately, fungal diversity can change because of time, climate, biota, topography, natural disturbance, or human caused perturbation and contamination [11][12][13][14]. For these reasons, there is interest in developing approaches to predict various facets of fungal diversity, and how it is likely to change over space and time in natural and managed ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Fungal Diversity and Identification of Major Abiotic Drivers Influencing Fungal Richness and Communities in Northern Temperate and Boreal Quebec Forests

Laperriere

Chagnon

Giguère-Tremblay

et al. 2019

Forests

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Fungi play important roles in forest ecosystems and understanding fungal diversity is crucial to address essential questions about species conservation and ecosystems management. Changes in fungal diversity can have severe impacts on ecosystem functionality. Unfortunately, little is known about fungal diversity in northern temperate and boreal forests, and we have yet to understand how abiotic variables shape fungal richness and composition. Our objectives were to make an overview of the fungal richness and the community composition in the region and identify their major abiotic drivers. We sampled 262 stands across the northern temperate and boreal Quebec forest located in the region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Mauricie, and Haute-Mauricie. At each site, we characterized fungal composition using Illumina sequencing, as well as several potential abiotic drivers (e.g., humus thickness, soil pH, vegetation cover, etc.). We tested effects of abiotic drivers on species richness using generalized linear models, while difference in fungal composition between stands was analyzed with permutational multivariate analysis of variance and beta-diversity partitioning analyses. Fungi from the order Agaricales, Helotiales, and Russulales were the most frequent and sites from the north of Abitibi-Témiscamingue showed the highest OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Unit) richness. Stand age and moss cover were the best predictors of fungal richness. On the other hand, the strongest drivers of fungal community structure were soil pH, average cumulative precipitation, and stand age, although much of community variance was left unexplained in our models. Overall, our regional metacommunity was characterized by high turnover rate, even when rare OTUs were removed. This may indicate strong environmental filtering by several unmeasured abiotic filters, or stronger than expected dispersal limitations in soil fungal communities. Our results show how difficult it can be to predict fungal community assembly even with high replication and efforts to include several biologically relevant explanatory variables.

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“…Degradation of natural forest induces serious damage to the soil, such as negative changes in particle aggregation, erosion, nutrient leaching, and the loss of several organisms belowground that provide important ecosystem functions (2,3). Recently, the responses of soil microbial communities to forest disturbance have been widely discussed and attracted increased attention (4).…”

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confidence: 99%

Changes in Fungal Communities across a Forest Disturbance Gradient

Shi

Dossa

Paudel

et al. 2019

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Deforestation has a substantial impact on aboveground biodiversity, but the response of belowground soil fungi remains poorly understood. In a tropical montane rainforest in southwestern China, plots were established along a forest degradation gradient ranging from mature and regenerated forests to open land to examine the impacts of forest degradation and deforestation on ecosystem diversity and function. Here, we evaluated the changes in belowground fungal diversity and community composition using a metabarcoding approach. Soil saprotrophic fungal richness declined with increasing forest disturbance. For example, Penicillium spp. (phosphorus [P]-solubilizing fungi) dominated in mature forest but were less abundant in regenerating forests and showed the lowest abundance in open land sites. Conversely, the abundance of facultative pathogenic fungi increased along the disturbance gradient. The decline in soil saprophytic fungi may be a direct result of forest disturbance or it may be associated with increased availability of soil phosphorus indirectly through an increase in soil pH. The increase in abundance of facultative pathogenic fungi may be related to reduced competition with saprotrophic fungi, changes in microclimate, or increased spore rain. These results demonstrate a loss of dominant P-solubilizing saprotrophic fungi along the disturbance gradient, indicating a change from soil P limitation in mature tropical forests to soil C limitation in deforested sites. The increased prevalence of pathogenic fungi may inhibit plant succession following deforestation. Overall, this research demonstrates that soil fungi can be used as a sensitive indicator for soil health to evaluate the consequences of forest disturbance. IMPORTANCE The soil fungal functional group changes in response to forest disturbance and indicates a close interaction between the aboveground plant community and the belowground soil biological community. Soil saprotrophic fungi declined in relative abundance with increasing forest disturbance. At the same time, the relative abundance of facultative pathogenic fungi increased. The loss of saprotrophic fungal richness and abundance may have been a direct result of forest disturbance or an indirect result of changes in soil pH and soil P. Furthermore, the dominant P-solubilizing saprotrophic fungi were replaced by diverse facultative pathogenic fungi, which have weaker C decomposition ability. These changes potentially indicate a shift from soil phosphate limitation to carbon limitation following deforestation. This study suggests that changes in fungal functional group composition can be used as an indicator of the effects of forest disturbance on soil carbon and nutrients.

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Diversity and ecology of soil fungal communities in rubber plantations

Cited by 24 publications

References 57 publications

Intensive tropical land use massively shifts soil fungal communities

Intensive tropical land use massively shifts soil fungal communities

Estimation of Fungal Diversity and Identification of Major Abiotic Drivers Influencing Fungal Richness and Communities in Northern Temperate and Boreal Quebec Forests

Changes in Fungal Communities across a Forest Disturbance Gradient

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