Effect of Clearance on the Soil Fungi Community in Chaco Dry Forest

Abstract

Purpose The Seasonally dry forests of South America are known as the Gran Chaco are areas vulnerable in the world, the highest percentage of protected areas is found in South America. Anthropogenic processes as clearing of native forests makes ecosystems more fragile to changes, due to agricultural frontier expansion. We purpose study as the soil fungal community has been modified due to land use changes caused by clearing and agricultural activities. Methods We observed the response of the soil fungal community due to anthropogenic actions through to use phenotypic and genotypic tools to detecting changes in the diversity, at three study sites under different land uses in Chaco dry forest in Argentina. Soil samples were obtained from relicts of native forests of Schinopsis spp., cleared soils that are used later for agricultural activities and soil of soybean monoculture. Results The results provided a signal of consequences of human activity on soil fungal communities. This was visualized by the grouping of different soils by species fungi abundance, the presence of detector species in both sampling years and in the ordering of sampling sites through analysis with traditional and molecular tools such as PCR-DGGE. Soil organic carbon and phosphorous parameters were significantly modified by the interactions of sampling sites and years. Conclusion The present study emphasizes the different land use change between fungal communities of native soils and soils for agricultural purposes, being replaced by others with different soil roles.