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Title: From individual leaves to forest stands: importance of niche, distance decay, and stochasticity vary by ecosystem type and functional group for fungal community composition

Journal Article · · FEMS Microbiology Ecology (Online)

Abstract Community assembly is influenced by environmental niche processes as well as stochastic processes that can be spatially dependent (e.g. dispersal limitation) or independent (e.g. priority effects). Here, we sampled senesced tree leaves as unit habitats to investigate fungal community assembly at two spatial scales: (i) small neighborhoods of overlapping leaves from differing tree species and (ii) forest stands of differing ecosystem types. Among forest stands, ecosystem type explained the most variation in community composition. Among adjacent leaves within stands, variability in fungal composition was surprisingly high. Leaf type was more important in stands with high soil fertility and dominated by differing tree mycorrhizal types (sugar maple vs. basswood or red oak), whereas distance decay was more important in oak-dominated forest stands with low soil fertility. Abundance of functional groups was explained by environmental factors, but predictors of taxonomic composition within differing functional groups were highly variable. These results suggest that fungal community assembly processes are clearest for functional group abundances and large spatial scales. Understanding fungal community assembly at smaller spatial scales will benefit from further study focusing on differences in drivers for different ecosystems and functional groups, as well as the importance of spatially independent factors such as priority effects.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004335
OSTI ID:
2318749
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2471912
Journal Information:
FEMS Microbiology Ecology (Online), Journal Name: FEMS Microbiology Ecology (Online) Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 100; ISSN 1574-6941
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Netherlands
Language:
English

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