Tree communities and soil properties influence fungal community assembly in neotropical forests

Abstract

The influence exerted by tree communities, topography, and soil chemistry on the assembly of macrofungal communities remains poorly understood, especially in highly diverse tropical forests. Here, we used a large dataset that combines inventories of macrofungal Basidiomycetes fruiting bodies, tree species composition, and measurements for 16 soil physicochemical parameters, collected in 34 plots located in four sites of lowland rain forests in French Guiana. Plots were established on three different topographical conditions: hilltop, slope, and seasonally flooded soils. We found hyperdiverse Basidiomycetes communities, mainly comprising members of Agaricales and Polyporales. Phosphorus, clay contents, and base saturation in soils strongly varied across plots and shaped the richness and composition of tree communities. The latter composition explained 23% of the variation in the composition of macrofungal communities, probably through high heterogeneity of the litter chemistry and selective effects of biotic interactions. The high local heterogeneity of habitats influenced the distribution of both macrofungi and trees, as a result of diversed local soil hydromorphic conditions associated with contrasting soil chemistry. This first regional study across habitats of French Guiana forests revealed new niches for macrofungi, such as ectomycorrhizal ones, and illustrates how macrofungi inventories are still paramount to can be to understand the processes at work in the tropics.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material. K E Y W O R D Scommunities, composition, diversity, habitat, lowland neotropical rain forest, macrofungi, soil properties, trees | 445 SCHIMANN et Al.

Composition of woody plant communities drives macrofungal community composition in three climatic regions

“…Yang et al (2012) also indicated that abundant rainfall and high temperatures are important factors for macrofungal productivity. Although many environmental factors were discussed in this study and other similar work on the topic, the inclusion of below‐ground factors, such as soil properties (Schimann et al 2020), and the temperature and moisture levels of the soil (Pinna et al 2010), should also be considered in future research.…”

“…A key objective in studying the ecological processes behind macrofungal community formation is to better understand which factors shape the distribution patterns of macrofungal communities (Martiny et al 2006). Previous research has reported that both biotic and abiotic elements influence macrofungal diversity and distribution, including geographical, climatic, soil and floristic cover (O'Dell et al 2000; Gassibe et al 2015; Bakray et al 2020; Schimann et al 2020). Among these factors, plant community structures have been suggested to be more strikingly correlated with the diversity and structure of fungal communities (Peay et al 2013; Mueller et al 2014; Chen et al 2017; Bittebiere et al 2020; Francioli et al 2020; Pecoraro et al 2020).…”