Department of Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 9;8(7):e68278. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068278. Print 2013.
Fungi regulate key nutrient cycling processes in many forest ecosystems, but their diversity and distribution within and across ecosystems are poorly understood. Here, we examine the spatial distribution of fungi across a boreal and tropical ecosystem, focusing on ectomycorrhizal fungi. We analyzed fungal community composition across litter (organic horizons) and underlying soil horizons (0-20 cm) using 454 pyrosequencing and clone library sequencing. In both forests, we found significant clustering of fungal communities by site and soil horizons with analogous patterns detected by both sequencing technologies. Free-living saprotrophic fungi dominated the recently-shed leaf litter and ectomycorrhizal fungi dominated the underlying soil horizons. This vertical pattern of fungal segregation has also been found in temperate and European boreal forests, suggesting that these results apply broadly to ectomycorrhizal-dominated systems, including tropical rain forests. Since ectomycorrhizal and free-living saprotrophic fungi have different influences on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics, information on the spatial distribution of these functional groups will improve our understanding of forest nutrient cycling.
真菌在许多森林生态系统中调节关键养分循环过程，但它们在生态系统内和跨生态系统的多样性和分布情况了解甚少。在这里，我们研究了真菌在北方森林和热带生态系统中的空间分布，重点关注外生菌根真菌。我们使用 454 焦磷酸测序和克隆文库测序分析了落叶层（有机层）和下覆土壤层（0-20 厘米）中的真菌群落组成。在两个森林中，我们发现真菌群落通过地点和土壤层聚类，两种测序技术都检测到类似的模式。自由生活的腐生真菌主导着最近落下的落叶层，而外生菌根真菌主导着下覆土壤层。这种真菌分离的垂直模式也在温带和欧洲北方森林中发现，表明这些结果广泛适用于外生菌根主导的系统，包括热带雨林。由于外生菌根真菌和自由生活的腐生真菌对土壤碳和氮动态有不同的影响，因此了解这些功能群的空间分布信息将有助于我们更好地了解森林养分循环。
