Local Community Assembly Mechanisms and the Size of Species Pool Jointly Explain the Beta Diversity of Soil Fungi

Microb Ecol. 2024 Apr 11;87(1):58. doi: 10.1007/s00248-024-02374-3.ABSTRACTFungi play vital regulatory roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Local community assembly mechanisms, including deterministic and stochastic processes, as well as the size of regional species pools (gamma diversity), typically influence overall soil microbial community beta diversity patterns. However, there is limited evidence supporting their direct and indirect effects on beta diversity of different soil fungal functional groups in forest ecosystems. To address this gap, we collected 1606 soil samples from a 25-ha subtropical forest plot in southern China. Our goal was to determine the direct effects and indirect effects of regional species pools on the beta diversity of soil fungi, specifically arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhizal (EcM), plant-pathogenic, and saprotrophic fungi. We quantified the effects of soil properties, mycorrhizal tree abundances, and topographical factors on soil fungal diversity. The beta diversity of plant-pathogenic fungi was predominantly influenced by the size of the species pool. In contrast, the beta diversity of EcM fungi was primarily driven indirectly through community assembly processes. Neither of them had significant effects on the beta diversity of AM and saprotrophic fungi. Our results highlight that the direct and indirect effects of species pools on the beta diversity of soil functional groups of fungi can significantly differ even within a relatively sma...
Source: Microbial Ecology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research