Abstract
Abstract Soil fungi play major roles in ecosystem functioning and plant resilience to environmental stresses. However, they are often overlooked in ecosystem restoration plans. In the Coastal Range of southern Chile, the endangered conifer Alerce ( Fitzroya cupressoides ) is the second longest-lived tree species on Earth and one of the largest in South America. These Alerce forests are currently facing major threats due to habitat destruction and climate change. Using ITS2 and SSU soil metabarcoding, we characterized soil and mycorrhizal fungal communities in an Alerce forest comprising a millennial tree (the ‘Alerce Abuelo’) estimated to be over 2400 years old. We also compared the performance of reference DNA sequence databases (i.e. MaarjAM, UNITE and EUKARYOME) for the taxonomic identification of mycorrhizal fungi in metabarcoding data. Beneath the Alerce Abuelo, soil fungal richness was 2.25 higher than the mean richness per sample, harboring 361 unique fungal OTUs. Likewise, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal richness was 1.75 times higher than the mean richness per sample. Soil and AM fungal richness positively correlated with diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree biomass, and negatively with available phosphorus, which was the best predictor of fungal community composition. Finally, EUKARYOME detected more mycorrhizal taxa compared to MaarjAM for SSU (AM fungi) and UNITE for ITS2 (ectomycorrhizal fungi). We therefore recommend to carefully evaluate the approaches used for assigning mycorrhizal guilds in comparative studies. Our study illustrates the importance of millennial trees in sustaining fungal diversity in forest soils. By accumulating fungal diversity as they age, large-diameter Alerce trees can act as umbrella species for soil and mycorrhizal fungi, thereby protecting fungal communities for future forest restoration efforts.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Beneath the millennial Alerce Abuelo, soil fungal richness was 2.25 higher than the mean richness per sample.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoides
Fitzroya cupressoidese1 - Outcome
- soil fungal richnesse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 2.25e0
- Comparator
- the mean richness per samplee0
- Setting
- Alerce Abueloe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“Beneath the Alerce Abuelo, soil fungal richness was 2.25 higher than the mean richness per sample”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil beneath the Alerce Abuelo harbored 361 unique fungal OTUs.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Outcome
- unique fungal OTUse0
- Value
- 361e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“harboring 361 unique fungal OTUs”
Claim · model-written summary
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal richness beneath the Alerce Abuelo was 1.75 times higher than the mean richness per sample.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Outcome
- arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal richnesse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 1.75 timese0
- Comparator
- the mean richness per samplee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“Likewise, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal richness was 1.75 times higher than the mean richness per sample”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil and AM fungal richness correlated positively with diameter at breast height and tree biomass.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Treatment
- diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree biomasse0
- Outcome
- Soil and AM fungal richnesse0
- Direction
- positively correlatede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“Soil and AM fungal richness positively correlated with diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree biomass”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil and AM fungal richness correlated negatively with available phosphorus.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Compound
- available phosphoruse0
- Outcome
- Soil and AM fungal richnesse0
- Direction
- negativelye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“Soil and AM fungal richness positively correlated with diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree biomass, and negatively with available phosphorus”
Claim · model-written summary
Available phosphorus was the best predictor of fungal community composition.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Compound
- available phosphoruse0
- Outcome
- fungal community compositione0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“available phosphorus, which was the best predictor of fungal community composition”
Claim · model-written summary
EUKARYOME detected more mycorrhizal taxa than MaarjAM for SSU (AM fungi).
Verbatim
e0“EUKARYOME detected more mycorrhizal taxa compared to MaarjAM for SSU (AM fungi) and UNITE for ITS2 (ectomycorrhizal fungi)”
Claim · model-written summary
EUKARYOME detected more mycorrhizal taxa than UNITE for ITS2 (ectomycorrhizal fungi).
Verbatim
e0“EUKARYOME detected more mycorrhizal taxa compared to MaarjAM for SSU (AM fungi) and UNITE for ITS2 (ectomycorrhizal fungi)”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend carefully evaluating the approaches used for assigning mycorrhizal guilds in comparative studies.
- Outcome
- approaches used for assigning mycorrhizal guildse0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“We therefore recommend to carefully evaluate the approaches used for assigning mycorrhizal guilds in comparative studies”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors conclude large-diameter Alerce trees can act as umbrella species for soil and mycorrhizal fungi.
- Taxon
- Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya cupressoidese1
- Outcome
- umbrella species for soil and mycorrhizal fungie0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Fitzroya cupressoides”
e0“large-diameter Alerce trees can act as umbrella species for soil and mycorrhizal fungi”