Elsevier

Pedosphere

Volume 24, Issue 4, August 2014, Pages 437-449
Pedosphere

PEDOSPHERE
Fungal Community-Plant Litter Decomposition Relationships Along a Climate Gradient

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0160(14)60030-8Get rights and content

Abstract

The decomposition of plant litter is a major process of equivalent status to primary production in ecosystem functioning. The spatiotemporal changes in the composition and dynamics of litter fungal community along a climate gradient ranging from arid desert to humid-Mediterranean regions in Israel was examined using wheat straw litter bags placed at four selected sites along the climate gradient, arid, semi-arid, Mediterranean, and humid-Mediterranean sites. Litter samples were collected over a two-year decomposition period to evaluate litter weight loss, moisture, C:N ratio, fungal composition, and isolate density. The litter decomposition rate was found to be the highest during the first year of the study at the Mediterranean and arid sites. Although the Shannon-Wiener index values of the fungal communities in the litter samples were the highest at the humid-Mediterranean site, the number of fungal species was not significantly different between the four study sites. Different fungal groups were found to be related to different study sites: Basidiomycota, Mucoromycotina, and teleomorphic Ascomycota were associated with the humid-Mediterranean site, while Coelomycetes were mostly affected by the arid site. Our results indicate that climate factors play an important role in determining the structure of saprotrophic fungal communities in the decomposing litter and in mediating plant litter decomposition processes.

References (73)

  • Z. Hamadi et al.

    Decomposition of Avena sterilis litter under arid conditions

    J. Arid Environ.

    (2000)
  • K.L. McGuire et al.

    Microbial communities and their relevance for ecosystem models: Decomposition as a case study

    Soil Biol. Biochem.

    (2010)
  • A. Oren et al.

    Catabolic profiles of soil fungal communities along a geographic climatic gradient in Israel

    Soil Biol. Biochem.

    (2008)
  • T. Osono

    Diversity and functioning of fungi associated with leaf litter decomposition in Asian forests of different climatic regions

    Fungal Ecol.

    (2011)
  • C.H. Robinson et al.

    Fungal communities on decaying wheat straw of different resource qualities

    Soil Biol. Biochem.

    (1994)
  • J. Yu et al.

    Spatiotemporal variability of cultivable microfungal communities inhabiting a playa area in the western Negev Desert, Israel

    J. Arid Environ.

    (2012)
  • N.N Zhdanova et al.

    Fungi from Chernobyl: mycobiota of the inner regions of the containment structures of the damaged nuclear reactor

    Mycol. Res.

    (2000)
  • N. Berg et al.

    Are biological effects of desert shrubs more important than physical effects on soil microorganisms?

    Microbial Ecol.

    (2010)
  • G.F. Bills et al.

    Abundance and diversity of microfungi in leaf litter of a lowland rain forest in Costa Rica

    Mycologia.

    (1994)
  • P. Davet et al.

    Detection and Isolation of Soil Fungi

    (2000)
  • N.J. Dix et al.

    Fungal Ecology

    (1995)
  • K.H. Domsch et al.

    Compendium of Soil Fungi

    (2007)
  • I.P. Edwards et al.

    Fungal community composition and function after long-term exposure of northern forests to elevated atmospheric CO2 and tropospheric O3

    Glob. Change Biol.

    (2011)
  • I.P. Edwards et al.

    Simulated atmospheric N deposition alters fungal community composition and suppresses ligninolytic gene expression in a Northern Hardwood Forest

    PLoS ONE

    (2011)
  • N.Z. Elkins et al.

    The role of microarthropods and nematodes in decomposition in a semi-arid ecosystem

    Oecologia.

    (1982)
  • M.B. Ellis

    Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes

    (1971)
  • M.B. Ellis

    More Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes

    (1976)
  • T. Fukami et al.

    Long-term ecological dynamics: reciprocal insights from natural and anthropogenic gradients

    P. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. Bio.

    (2005)
  • W. Gams

    Cephalosporium-artige Schimmelpilze (Hyphomycetes)

    (1971)
  • M.O. Gessner et al.

    Importance of stream microfungi in controlling breakdown rates of leaf litter

    Ecology.

    (1994)
  • C.P. Giardina et al.

    Evidence that decomposition rates of organic carbon in mineral soil do not vary with temperature

    Nature.

    (2000)
  • I. Grishkan et al.

    Adaptive spatiotemporal distribution of soil microfungi in ‘Evolution Canyon’ III, Nahal Shaharut, extreme southern Negev Desert, Israel

    Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

    (2007)
  • I. Grishkan et al.

    Soil microfungi of Nahal Meitsar, “Evolution Canyon” IV, Golan Heights

    Plant Biosystems.

    (2004)
  • I. Grishkan et al.

    Soil microfungal communities of ‘Evolution Canyons’ in Israel—extreme differences on a regional scale

    Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

    (2008)
  • I. Grishkan et al.

    Adaptive spatiotemporal distribution of soil microfungi in ‘Evolution canyon’ II, Lower Nahal Keziv, western Upper Galilee, Israel

    Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

    (2003)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text