10.5061/DRYAD.CQ2RB
Semenova, Tatiana A.
Leiden University
Morgado, Luis N.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Welker, Jeffrey M.
University of Alaska System
Walker, Marilyn D.
Smets, Erik
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Geml, József
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Data from: Compositional and functional shifts in arctic fungal
communities in response to experimentally increased snow depth
Dryad
dataset
2017
snow fence
Toolik Lake
fungal communities
Fungal diversity
2017-06-07T00:00:00Z
2017-06-07T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.06.001
1467606318 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Climate warming leads to more intensive evaporation from the Arctic sea
resulting in increased precipitation in the low Arctic, e.g., higher
snowfall during winter. Deeper snow keeps the arctic soils warmer and
alters soil attributes and vegetation, e.g., increase in nitrogen
availability, expansion of shrubs and decline in shade-intolerant lichens
and bryophytes. Changes in soil properties and vegetation are expected to
influence on saprotrophic and plant-symbiotic fungi, but how increased
snow depth affects their community composition remain unknown. In the
present work, we used DNA metabarcoding to study the effects of long-term
experimental manipulations of snow depth on soil fungal communities in dry
heath and moist tussock tundra in Arctic Alaska. We report strong changes
in fungal community compositions in the two tundra types, with pronounced
declines observed in the majority of fungal functional guilds, including
ectomycorrhizal, lichenized, plant pathogenic, saprotrophic and
bryophyte-associated species. The observed changes in lichenized and
bryophyte-associated fungi are in agreement with previously published
above-ground changes, i.e. decrease of lichen and bryophyte cover and
diversity. However, the majority of observed trends, including the decline
of ectomycorrhizal fungi (that were anticipated to benefit from the
expansion of their host plants), suggest that changes in fungal
communities do not entirely correspond to and are not primarily driven by
shifts in vegetation. Instead, arctic fungal communities appear to exhibit
faster turnover that may be influenced by dynamic interactions with
numerous biotic and abiotic factors, e.g., soil nutrient cycling and
community dynamics in other groups of soil microorganisms. We highlight
the importance of “below-ground studies” in assessing ecosystem responses
to climatic changes, because faster turnover of microbial communities may
be applicable for monitoring early-stage alterations caused by climatic
changes.
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arctic tundra
Toolik Lake
Northern Alaska