Abstract
BACKGROUND: Soil fungal communities play vital roles in forest ecosystem functioning, yet their relationship with tree health remains insufficiently characterized in many endangered species. AIMS: This study, investigated the composition and functional structure of soil fungi associated with symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals of Araucaria araucana in the Nahuelbuta Coastal Range, Chile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using high-throughput ITS1 sequencing and trait-based annotation, we compared fungal assemblages across two forest sectors with contrasting edaphic conditions. RESULTS: Marked differences in taxonomic and functional composition were observed between sites, with more even and functionally diverse communities in less restrictive soils. Within this site, where both tree health conditions co-occur, no significant differences in alpha or beta diversity were detected; nevertheless, species-level and functional guild analyses revealed shifts in composition. A shared core microbiome included taxa putatively identified as endophytes, including Cladophialophora minutissima, Fraxinicola europaea, Linnemannia hyalina, saprotrophs (Solicoccozyma terricola, Helicodendron conglomeratum, Pseudogymnoascus roseus) and a plant pathogen (Penicillium excelsum). Symptomatic trees harboured unique stress-tolerant taxa, including cold-adapted saprotrophs and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, while asymptomatic trees supported lignocellulose decomposers, mutualists and early-successional symbionts. DISCUSSION: The observed fungal shifts suggest that canopy dieback is associated with a functional reorganization of the rhizosphere microbiome rather than a simple loss of diversity. CONCLUSION: These findings provide new insights into the fungal ecology of A. araucana forest and contribute to understanding how soil microbiomes respond to forest decline under contrasting edaphic conditions.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Fungal taxonomic and functional composition differed markedly between forest sites.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucana
Araucaria araucanat0 - Outcome
- taxonomic and functional compositione0
- Setting
- sitese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Marked differences in taxonomic and functional composition were observed between sites”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
Less restrictive soils had more even and functionally diverse fungal communities.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Outcome
- even and functionally diverse communitiese0
- Direction
- moree0
- Setting
- less restrictive soilse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“more even and functionally diverse communities in less restrictive soils”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
Fungal alpha and beta diversity did not differ significantly between tree health conditions at the site where both occurred.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Outcome
- alpha or beta diversitye0
- Direction
- no significant differencese0
- Comparator
- both tree health conditionse0
- Setting
- this sitee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Within this site, where both tree health conditions co-occur, no significant differences in alpha or beta diversity were detected”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
Species-level and functional guild composition shifted between tree health conditions.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Outcome
- shifts in compositione0
- Setting
- species-level and functional guild analysese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“species-level and functional guild analyses revealed shifts in composition”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
A shared core microbiome contained putative endophytes, saprotrophs and a plant pathogen.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Interactor
- Penicillium excelsumPenicillium excelsume0pathogen
- Outcome
- shared core microbiomee0
- Qualifier
- taxa putatively identified as endophytese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A shared core microbiome included taxa putatively identified as endophytes, including Cladophialophora minutissima, Fraxinicola europaea, Linnemannia hyalina, saprotrophs (Solicoccozyma terricola, Helicodendron conglomeratum, Pseudogymnoascus roseus) and a plant pathogen (Penicillium excelsum)”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
Symptomatic trees harboured unique stress-tolerant taxa including cold-adapted saprotrophs and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Interactor
- ericoid mycorrhizal fungie0symbiont
- Outcome
- unique stress-tolerant taxae0
- Qualifier
- Symptomatic treese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Symptomatic trees harboured unique stress-tolerant taxa, including cold-adapted saprotrophs and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi”
t0“Araucaria araucana”
Claim · model-written summary
Asymptomatic trees supported lignocellulose decomposers, mutualists and early-successional symbionts.
- Taxon
- Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanat0
- Interactor
- early-successional symbiontse0symbiont
- Outcome
- lignocellulose decomposers, mutualists and early-successional symbiontse0
- Qualifier
- asymptomatic treese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“asymptomatic trees supported lignocellulose decomposers, mutualists and early-successional symbionts”
t0“Araucaria araucana”