Fungal Patterns from Soils in Madagascar: an Insight from Maromizaha Forest (Evergreen Humid Forest) to Outside (Deciduous Forest)

Abstract

Soil fungal diversity was studied by next-generation sequencing and compared in two different Malagasy ecosystems, the first a New Protected Area (Maromizaha NAP) that is a rich humid evergreen forest and the second a degraded and declined deciduous forest (Andaravina) whose area has been also eroded. Both areas, however, have comparable annual rainfalls and soil pH values. So it was of interest to examine the soil fungal diversity in each system and compare them. We detected 1,817,658 reads representing Ascomycota, which were dominant in both habitats (55.9%), followed by unidentified fungi (21.5%), Basidiomycota (12.7%) and Mortierellomycota (6.7%), with Mucoromycota, Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and other phyla accounting for less than 5% in total. In detail, 1,142 OTUs out of 1,368 constitute the common core shared by both sampling areas, which are characterized by tropical climate, whereas 185 are Maromizaha specific and 41 Andaravina specific. The most represented guilds involve fungi related to saprotrophic behaviour, with a greater tendency towards pathotrophic mode. A significant variability in terms of richness and abundance is present within Maromizaha, which is a heterogeneous environment for fungi but also for plant composition, as it emerged from the vegetational survey of the investigated sites. A few fungal sequences match taxa from Madagascar, highlighting the scarce representativeness of fungi from this island in the fungal databases and their still low knowledge. Enlarging studies in Madagascar will help not only to unravel its largely unknown fungal biodiversity but also to give a contribution for studies on the reconstruction of the diversity of soil fungi worldwide.

First morphological and molecular investigation of the mycobiota associated withAstragalus nebrodensisin its natural environment (Madonie mountains, Sicily)

“…This result indicates the still little knowledge of fungi from the Madonie Park, and consequently their poor representativeness in the databases. This fact is common in places where fungal diversity has been scarcely investigated, such as Madagascar, where Ghignone et al (2021) found many unknown fungi with the same approach used in the present work.…”

Soil Fungal Community and Potential Function in Different Forest Ecosystems

“…With the increasing amount of litter, the AMF fungal hyphae proliferate in organic substrates [68] and grow into decomposing leaf litter [69,70], suggesting that AMF fungi may represent important pathways for plant uptake of nutrients in tropical and subtropical forests. Apart from this, the tropical and subtropical rainforests are characterized by a high presence of organic matter, and they can produce more litter than other ecosystems [71]. Such conditions result in an enrichment of pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, while symbiotic fungi are present in lower number [71] (Table 1).…”

“…Apart from this, the tropical and subtropical rainforests are characterized by a high presence of organic matter, and they can produce more litter than other ecosystems [71]. Such conditions result in an enrichment of pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, while symbiotic fungi are present in lower number [71] (Table 1).…”

“…(2) The thicker litter layers tended to harbor more Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi AMF [67]. (3) Enrichment of pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, while symbiotic fungi were present in lower number due to high amount of organic matter [71]. (4) The natural peatland soils normally harbored more saprotrophic fungi than the disturbed peatland [46,54].…”

DNA‐based fungal diversity in Madagascar and arrival of the ectomycorrhizal fungi to the island

“…The first scientific reports for the Funga (Kuhar et al, 2018) of Madagascar date back to the late 19th century (Cooke & Massee, 1890), followed by several studies conducted by French mycologists in the first half of the 20th century, including those of Patouillard (1924Patouillard ( , 1928, Romagnesi (1941), Métrod (1949) and Heim (1936Heim ( , 1938aHeim ( , 1938bHeim ( , 1945 (Vizzini et al, 2019). It has not been until very recently that the interest in Madagascar fungi resurfaced, with several new species being reported, monographs being published, and high-throughput environmental sequencing projects being conducted (Antonín et al, 2005;Antonín & Buyck, 2006;Aptroot, 2016;Buyck, 2008;Buyck et al, 2007;Duhem & Buyck, 2007;Eyssartier et al, 2001;Eyssartier & Buyck, 1999a, 1999bGhignone et al, 2021;Ralaiveloarisoa, 2022;Ralaiveloarisoa et al, 2020Ralaiveloarisoa et al, , 2021Shay et al, 2017).…”