Fungal Community Responses to Past and Future Atmospheric CO^sub 2^ Differ by Soil Type

• Published in: Applied and environmental microbiology 2014-12, Vol.80 (23), p.7364
• Main Authors: Procter, Andrew C, Ellis, J Christopher, Fay, Philip A, Polley, H Wayne, Jackson, Robert B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomass; Carbon dioxide; Fungi; Microbiology; Soils
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336

Soils sequester and release substantial atmospheric carbon, but the contribution of fungal communities to soil carbon balance under rising ... is not well understood. Soil properties likely mediate these fungal responses but are rarely explored in ... experiments. We studied soil fungal communities in a grassland ecosystem exposed to a preindustrial-to-future ... gradient (250 to 500 ppm) in a black clay soil and a sandy loam soil. Sanger sequencing and pyrosequencing of the rRNA gene cluster revealed that fungal community composition and its response to ... differed significantly between soils. Fungal species richness and relative abundance of Chytridiomycota (chytrids) increased linearly with ... in the black clay (P < 0.04, ... > 0.7), whereas the relative abundance of Glomeromycota (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) increased linearly with elevated ... in the sandy loam (P = 0.02, ... = 0.63). Across both soils, decomposition rate was positively correlated with chytrid relative abundance (r = 0.57) and, in the black clay soil, fungal species richness. Decomposition rate was more strongly correlated with microbial biomass (r = 0.88) than with fungal variables. Increased labile carbon availability with elevated ... may explain the greater fungal species richness and Chytridiomycota abundance in the black clay soil, whereas increased phosphorus limitation may explain the increase in Glomeromycota at elevated ... in the sandy loam. Our results demonstrate that soil type plays a key role in soil fungal responses to rising atmospheric ... (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)