Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 2;7:41801. doi: 10.1038/srep41801.
Foliar fungi of silver birch (Betula pendula) in an experimental Finnish forest were investigated across a gradient of tree species richness using molecular high-throughput sequencing and visual macroscopic assessment. We hypothesized that the molecular approach detects more fungal taxa than visual assessment, and that there is a relationship among the most common fungal taxa detected by both techniques. Furthermore, we hypothesized that the fungal community composition, diversity, and distribution patterns are affected by changes in tree diversity. Sequencing revealed greater diversity of fungi on birch leaves than the visual assessment method. One species showed a linear relationship between the methods. Species-specific variation in fungal community composition could be partially explained by tree diversity, though overall fungal diversity was not affected by tree diversity. Analysis of specific fungal taxa indicated tree diversity effects at the local neighbourhood scale, where the proportion of birch among neighbouring trees varied, but not at the plot scale. In conclusion, both methods may be used to determine tree diversity effects on the foliar fungal community. However, high-throughput sequencing provided higher resolution of the fungal community, while the visual macroscopic assessment detected functionally active fungal species.
采用分子高通量测序和宏观视觉评估的方法，在一个实验性的芬兰森林中，研究了银桦（Betula pendula）叶部真菌在树种丰富度梯度上的分布。我们假设分子方法比肉眼评估检测到更多的真菌分类群，并且两种技术检测到的最常见的真菌分类群之间存在关系。此外，我们假设真菌群落组成、多样性和分布模式受树木多样性变化的影响。测序结果表明，在银桦叶片上检测到的真菌多样性比肉眼评估方法更多。有一个种在两种方法之间呈线性关系。真菌群落组成的种特异性变化可以部分由树木多样性来解释，尽管总体而言，真菌多样性不受树木多样性的影响。对特定真菌类群的分析表明，树木多样性在局部邻域尺度上对叶片真菌群落有影响，即在相邻树木中桦树的比例有所不同，但在斑块尺度上则没有。总之，这两种方法都可以用来确定树木多样性对叶片真菌群落的影响。然而，高通量测序提供了更高的真菌群落分辨率，而宏观视觉评估则检测到具有功能活性的真菌物种。
