Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kórnik, Poland.
Department of Natural Environmental Studies, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 24;13(1):10280. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-37538-7.
Soil fungi play an indispensable role in the functioning of terrestrial habitats. Most landscape-scale studies of soil fungal diversity try to identify the fungal taxa present at a study site and define the relationships between their abundance and environmental factors. The specific spatial distribution of these fungi over the site, however, is not addressed. Our study's main objective is to propose a novel approach to landscape-scale mapping of soil fungi distribution using next generation sequencing and geographic information system applications. Furthermore, to test the proposed approach and discuss its performance, we aimed to conduct a case study mapping the spatial distribution of soil fungi on the Wielka Żuława island. The case study was performed on the Wielka Żuława island in northern Poland, where soil samples were collected every 100 m in an even grid. The fungal taxa and their relative abundance in each sample were assessed using the Illumina platform. Using the data obtained for the sampled points, maps of soil fungi spatial distribution were generated using three common interpolators: inverted distance weighted (IDW), B-spline, and ordinary Kriging. The proposed approach succeeded in creating maps of fungal distribution on Wielka Żuława. The most abundant groups of soil fungi were Penicillium on the genus level, Aspergillaceae on the family level, and ectomycorrhizal fungi on the trophic group level. Ordinary Kriging proved to be the most accurate at predicting relative abundance values for the groups of fungi significantly spatially autocorrelated at the sampled scale. For the groups of fungi not displaying spatial autocorrelation at the sampled scale, IDW provided the most accurate predictions of their relative abundance. Although less accurate at predicting exact relative abundance values, B-spline performed best in delineating the spatial patterns of soil fungi distribution. The proposed approach to landscape-scale mapping of soil fungi distribution could provide new insights into the ecology of soil fungi and terrestrial ecosystems in general. Producing maps of predicted fungal distribution in landscape-scale soil fungi diversity studies would also facilitate the reusability and replicability of the results. Outside the area of research, mapping the distribution of soil fungi could prove helpful in areas such as agriculture and forestry, nature conservation, and urban planning.
土壤真菌在陆地生境的功能中起着不可或缺的作用。大多数景观尺度的土壤真菌多样性研究试图确定研究地点存在的真菌分类群，并定义其丰度与环境因素之间的关系。然而，这些真菌在整个地点的具体空间分布并没有得到解决。我们的研究主要目的是提出一种使用下一代测序和地理信息系统应用程序进行景观尺度土壤真菌分布制图的新方法。此外，为了测试所提出的方法并讨论其性能，我们旨在进行一项案例研究，即在波兰北部的大泽乌瓦拉岛（Wielka Żuława）上绘制土壤真菌的空间分布。该案例研究在波兰北部的大泽乌瓦拉岛（Wielka Żuława）上进行，在该岛上以 100 米的均匀网格采集土壤样本。使用 Illumina 平台评估每个样本中的真菌分类群及其相对丰度。使用对采样点获得的数据，使用三种常见的插值器（反距离加权（IDW）、B 样条和普通克里金）生成土壤真菌空间分布的地图。所提出的方法成功地在大泽乌瓦拉岛上创建了真菌分布的地图。土壤真菌中最丰富的类群是属水平的青霉、科水平的曲霉科和营养群水平的外生菌根真菌。普通克里金被证明是预测在采样尺度上显著空间自相关的真菌类群相对丰度值最准确的方法。对于在采样尺度上不显示空间自相关的真菌类群，IDW 提供了对其相对丰度最准确的预测。尽管在预测确切的相对丰度值方面准确性较低，但 B 样条在描绘土壤真菌分布的空间模式方面表现最佳。所提出的景观尺度土壤真菌分布制图方法可以为土壤真菌生态学和一般陆地生态系统提供新的见解。在景观尺度土壤真菌多样性研究中生成预测真菌分布的地图也将有助于提高结果的可重复性和可重用性。在研究领域之外，绘制土壤真菌的分布可能有助于农业和林业、自然保护和城市规划等领域。
