Cultivable Microfungal Communities Inhabiting Biological Soil Crusts in the Tengger Desert, China

doi:10.1016/S1002-0160(15)30003-5

Pedosphere

Volume 25, Issue 3, June 2015, Pages 351-363

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0160(15)30003-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

Biological soil crusts are essential components of arid ecosystems. We examined the variations in microfungal communities inhabiting different biological crust types in the vicinity of the Shapotou Research Station in the Tengger Desert, China. A total of 134 species from 66 genera were isolated using the soil dilution plate method. The mycobiota of the crusts from the Tengger Desert, similar to that of the Negev Desert in Israel, was dominated by melanin-containing species with large multicellular spores. Abundance of these xeric species increased spatially with increasing xeric conditions from moss-dominated to cyanobacterial crusts. Density of microfungal isolates displayed the opposite trend and was positively correlated with chlorophyll content, indicating the possible significant influence of organic matter content and wetness duration on fungal biomass. Within a chronosequence of the localities of different periods after sand stabilization with revegetation, little variations were revealed in species composition and isolate density of the crust microfungal communities, while a tendency towards a decrease in the community diversity level with the crust age was noted Microfungal communities from stabilized localities differed from those of the natural localities in abundance of the dominant and some frequent species, and in the fluctuations of diversity characteristics between the cyanobacterial and moss-dominated crusts. The variations in mycobiotic parameters in the soil crusts of the Tengger Desert were apparently associated with the topographically induced variations in abiotic conditions, while the differences in microfungal community of soil crusts between the Tengger and Negev deserts, such as the significantly higher abundance of thermotolerant species in the crusts of the Tengger Deserts, were caused by the principal differences in their precipitation regimes, associated with different rainy seasons, winter and summer in the Negev and Tengger deserts, respectively.

References (46)

R.M.M. Abed et al.
Diversity of free-living and lichenized fungal communities in biological soil crusts of the Sultanate of Oman and their role in improving soil properties
Soil Biol. Biochew.
(2013)
S.T. Bates et al.
Fungal communities of lichen-dominated biological soil crusts: diversity, relative microbial biomass, and their relationship to disturbance and crust cover
J. Arid Environ.
(2010)
G.F. Bills et al.
Saprobic soil fungi
I. Grishkan et al.
Biocrust-inhabiting cultured microfungi along a dune catena in the western Negev Desert, Israel
Eur. J. Soil Biol.
(2013)
I. Grishkan et al.
Spatiotemporal distribution of soil microfungi in the Makhtesh Ramon area, central Negev desert, Israel
Fungal Ecol.
(2010)
I. Grishkan et al.
Diversity of cultured microfungal communities in surface horizons of soils on different lithologies in Upper Galilee, Israel
Eur. J. Soil Biol.
(2008)
I. Grishkan et al.
Soil crust microfungi along a southward rainfall aridity gradient in the Negev Desert, Israel
Eur. J. Soil Biol.
(2006)
R. Halwagy et al.
Ecology of the soil mycoflora in the desert of Kuwait
J. Arid Environ.
(1982)
R.L. Jia et al.
Responses of biological soil crusts to sand burial in a revegetated area of the Tengger Desert, Northern China
Soil Biol. Biochem.
(2008)
R.L. Jia et al.
Differential wind tolerance of soil crust mosses explains their micro-distribution in nature
Soil Biol. Biochem.
(2012)

D. Johnson

Response of terrestrial microorganisms to ultraviolet-B radiation in ecosystems

Res. Microbiol.

(2003)

G.J. Kidron et al.

Microclimate control upon sand microbiotic crust, western Negev Desert, Israel

Geomorphology.

(2000)

G.J. Kidron et al.

Recovery rates of microbiotic crusts within a dune ecosystem in the Negev Desert

Geomorphology.

(2008)

G.J. Kidron et al.

Properties and spatial distribution of microbiotic crusts in the Negev Desert, Israel

Catena.

(2010)

X.R. Li et al.

Recovery of topsoil physicochemical properties in revegetated sites in the sand-burial ecosystems of the Tengger Desert, northern China

Geomorphology.

(2007)

X.R. Li et al.

Sand barriers of straw checkerboards for habitat restoration in extremely arid desert regions

Ecol. Eng.

(2006)

X.R. Li et al.

The ecohydrology of the soil-vegetation system restoration in arid zones: a review

Sci. Cold Arid Reg. (in Chinese).

(2009)

L.C. Liu et al.

Effects of microbiotic crusts on dew deposition in the restored vegetation area at Shapotou, northwest China

J. Hydrol.

(2006)

S.K. Abdullah et al.

Soil mycoflora of the Southern Desert of Iraq

Sydowia.

(1986)

S.T. Bates et al.

A culture independent study of free-living fungi in biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau: their diversity and relative contribution to microbial biomass

Environ. Microbiol.

(2009)

S.T. Bates et al.

Patterns of diversity for fungal assemblages of biological soil crusts from the southwestern United States

Mycologia.

(2012)

J. Belnap et al.

Preface

M. Christensen

Species diversity and dominance in fungal community

Cited by (19)

Development of archaeal communities in biological soil crusts along a revegetation chronosequence in the Tengger Desert, north central China
2020, Soil and Tillage Research
Citation Excerpt :
It has been reported that the dominant bacteria in BSCs are Bacilli (mainly Bacillus, Enterococcus, and Lactococcus), Alphaproteobacteria, and Sphingobacteria (mainly Chitinophagaceae and Cytophagaceae), which account for the highest proportion of microorganisms in BSCs from the Tengger Desert (Liu et al., 2017a, b), Tabernas Desert (Maier et al., 2014), and Sandia Mountains (Moquin et al., 2012), and Ascomycota were noted to be the dominant fungi of BSCs in desert ecosystems (Abed et al., 2013; Bates et al., 2010a, b). Bacterial and fungal communities in BSCs contribute to improving soil fertility as decomposers, providing nutrients to plants and other organisms, and promoting carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), and phosphorus (P) cycling in desert ecosystems (Abed et al., 2013; Bates and Garcia-Pichel, 2009; Bates et al., 2010a, 2012; Grishkan and Kidron, 2013; Grishkan et al., 2015; Maier et al., 2014; Moquin et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2016). Moreover, fungal communities play critical roles in maintaining the BSC structure through their mycelia (Barger et al., 2006; Meadows et al., 1994).
Archaea are major contributors to biogeochemical cycles and energy metabolism among soil microorganisms under extremely acidic and high-temperature conditions, however, the biodiversity and ecological function of archaea in biological soil crusts (BSCs) of desert ecosystems are not fully understood. Here, we used Illumina MiSeq sequencing and microbial functional gene array (GeoChip 5.0) to test the following hypotheses: (1) the composition and function related to biogeochemical cycles of the archaeal community would change significantly in the development process of BSCs; and (2) the key factors driving these changes may be soil biogeochemical properties. The results showed that the diversity, abundance, and functional potential of the archaeal community showed their highest levels in 5-year-old BSCs. The dominant phyla were Thaumarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, and an unclassified phylum in the archaeal community during BSC succession. The functional genes of the archaeal community were mainly involved in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles, and the functions of the three dominant phyla were complementary in these cycles. Moreover, redundancy analysis showed that soil biogeochemical properties were negatively related to the composition and function of the archaeal community during BSC succession, and the soil C:N ratio might be the major limiting factor. These results provided evidences for our hypotheses and revealed that the archaeal community played an important ecological role in the early development stage of BSCs, and might be pioneer species of soil microbial communities during BSC succession.
Shifts in soil microbial community functional gene structure across a 61-year desert revegetation chronosequence
2019, Geoderma
Citation Excerpt :
In soil microbial ecology, one of the central questions is how soil microbial community respond to ecological succession (Fitter et al., 2005; Little et al., 2008). In the past few years, several studies have addressed the succession of soil microbial communities after desert revegetation (Grishkan et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016a; Zhang et al., 2016b; Liu et al., 2017a, 2017b). However, these studies have largely focused on changes in taxonomic features of microbial communities, while it remains unclear how the functional composition and abundance of microbial communities respond to the changes in vegetation composition and soil physicochemical properties.
Vegetation and soil properties are crucial in shaping soil microbial communities. However, little is known about temporal changes in the functional structure of soil microbial communities to managed revegetation in desert ecosystems. Here, we adopted GeoChip 5.0-180 K, a functional gene array, to investigate the succession of soil microbial functional genes structure and potential across a 61-year revegetation chronosequence in the Tengger Desert, China. The abundance of bacterial, fungal and archaeal genes generally increased during succession. However, variation in α-diversity of microbial functional genes and signal intensity of most C-, N- and P-cycling related genes showed hump-shaped patterns along the successional gradient. Although microbial functional structure changed during succession, these revegetation sites shared a high percentage of functional genes and nestedness-resultant component dominantly determined β-diversity. Furthermore, microbial functional structure significantly correlated with crustal and shrub coverage, thickness and mass of crusts, soil fine particles, total C, total P and the ratios of C to N and C to P. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and CCA-based variation partitioning analysis showed that environmental variables explained 56.6% and 85.3% of the variance in overall microbial functional genes, respectively. These results indicate that vegetation development, especially the colonization and development of soil crusts together with changes in soil abiotic properties, play key roles in driving the functional shifts in soil microbial community structure after desert revegetation.
Moss-dominated biocrusts increase soil microbial abundance and community diversity and improve soil fertility in semi-arid climates on the Loess Plateau of China
2017, Applied Soil Ecology
Various ecological functions of biocrusts are mostly determined by their bacterial and fungal abundance and community diversity, which has not yet been fully investigated. To provide more insights into this issue, we collected samples of moss biocrusts, fixed sand, and mobile sand from a watershed with semi-arid climate on the Loess Plateau of China. The relative abundances and community diversities of soil bacteria and fungi of the samples were determined using high-throughput DNA sequencing. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of bacterial and fungal community of the moss biocrusts and their relationships to the content of soil nutrients. Our results showed that the moss biocrusts had 1048 bacterial OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and 58 fungal OTUs, and their Shannon diversity indexes were 5.56 and 1.65, respectively. The bacterial community of the moss biocrusts was dominated by Acidobacteria (24.3%), Proteobacteria (23.8%), Chloroflexi (15.8%), and Actinobacteria (14.5%), and their fungal community was dominated by Ascomycota (68.0%) and Basidiomycota (23.8%). The moss biocrusts had far more bacterial OTUs (≥ 56.9%) but similar number of fungal OTUs as compared with the uncrusted soil, and their Sorenson’s similarity coefficients of bacterial and fungal communities were less than 0.768 and 0.596, respectively. Moreover, the contents of soil nutrients (C, N, P) were significantly correlated with the OTU numbers of bacteria and the relative abundances of bacteria and fungi. Our results indicated that moss biocrusts harbor a large number and high diversity of bacteria and fungi, and these diversified bacteria and fungi play important roles in ecosystem functioning through improving soil fertility.
Effect of biological soil crusts on microbial activity in soils of the Tengger Desert (China)
2017, Journal of Arid Environments
Soil microbes, as an important biological component of soils, have a function in the formation of soils and soil-remediation processes. This paper aims to analyze effects of biocrusts on soil microbial activities in desert ecosystems. Two sets of samples were collected under biocrusts in April, July, October, 2013, and January, 2014, in natural and revegetated areas of the Tengger Desert. The results showed that biocrusts significantly improved soil physicochemical properties, basal respiration and the quantity of soil alkaline phosphatase, protease, and cellulose, and decreased qCO₂ in vegetated areas. Impact of biocrusts on soil microbial activities also varied, depending on the successional stage of crusts and the restoration age. Soil basal respiration and enzyme activity were obviously higher, but qCO₂ were significantly lower in moss-dominated crusts than those dominated by cyanobacteria-lichen. Soil basal respiration and enzyme activity positively correlated with the restoration age, but qCO₂ negatively correlated with the restoration age. Soil basal respiration and enzyme activity were the highest in summer, followed by autumn, and the lowest in spring and winter; whereas, qCO₂ displayed an opposite trend. The study suggests that biocrusts have the ability to improve soil quality and promote soil recovery in vegetated areas of the Tengger Desert.
Diversity and distribution of soil fungal communities associated with biological soil crusts in the southeastern Tengger Desert (China) as revealed by 454 pyrosequencing
2016, Fungal Ecology
Citation Excerpt :
Many members of the order Pleosporales, typically having darkly pigmented hyphae and melanized, large multicellular spores, are able to withstand the harsh, arid conditions of deserts (Bates et al., 2010b). The prevalence of culturable fungi in the Pleosporales has been clearly observed in BSC sands of the Arabian Desert (Abed et al., 2013), the Negev Desert (Grishkan and Kidron, 2013) and the Tengger Desert (Grishkan et al., 2015). Using molecular methods, Pleosporales have also been reported as the most dominant order in BSC sands from the Chinhuahuan Desert, the Colorado Plateau and the Sonoran Desert (Bates and Garcia-Pichel, 2009; Bates et al., 2010a, 2012).
We assessed the diversity and distribution of soil fungal communities associated with biological soil crusts (BSCs) in the southeastern Tengger Desert (China) using 454 pyrosequencing. Soil fungal communities showed high diversity, with 63,427 reads belonging to 478 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Of these OTUs, 369 belonged to the Ascomycota, 73 to the Basidiomycota, 24 to the Chytridiomycota, one to the Glomeromycota, five to the Mortierellomycotina, and six to unassigned phyla. The most frequent genera were Phoma, Fusarium, Alternaria, Dendryphion, Peyronellaea, Curvularia, Epicoccum, Embellisia and Pleiochaeta. Different BSC sands (algae-crust sand, moss-crust sand and lichen-crust sand) did not harbor significantly different fungal communities. However, the fungal communities in these BSC sands were significantly different from those in non-crusted sands, with members of the Hypocreales and Fusarium being more frequent in the latter. The distribution of soil fungi (measured by Bray-Curtis distance) correlated with abiotic parameters, including total P (r² = 0.9191, P = 0.001), organic C (r² = 0.7237, P = 0.004), total N (r² = 0.7200, P = 0.004), pH (r² = 0.6858, P = 0.002) and electrical conductivity (r² = 0.4723, P = 0.030). The results suggest that BSCs in the Tengger Desert harbor diverse fungal communities that are influenced by abiotic factors.
Biodiversity of the Genus Aspergillus in Different Habitats
2016, New and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Aspergillus System Properties and Applications
Since Pier Antonio Micheli described and published on the genus Aspergillus in Nova Plantarum Genera in 1729 the genus has attracted an immense interest. Aspergillus is a diverse genus occurring worldwide, species from this genus are considered to primarily be terricolous with important roles as decomposers of organic materials and cause destructive rots in agricultural products and the food industry, where they produce a wide range of mycotoxins. The genus currently contains 339 accepted species and its economic and historical importance makes it remain at center stage in future discussions about nomenclature and mycological diversity. The International Commission of Penicillium and Aspergillus voted to maintain a broad generic concept for Aspergillus. Eleven teleomorphs associated with Aspergillus anamorphs in which seven genera (Eurotium, Neosartorya, Emericella, Chaetosartorya, Hemicarpenteles, Sclerocleista, and Warcupiella) are maintained and four genera (Fennellia, Petromyces, Neocarpenteles, and Neopetromyces) are synonymized. Therefore, together with its ubiquitous nature, these species have greatly significant impacts on ecosystems, agriculture, food production, biotechnology, and human and animal health. The goal of this chapter is to represent the biodiversity of genus Aspergillus in a wide range of environmental habitats including deserts, salterns, agricultural, polar, aquatic, mangrove, living plants and animals, air, decayed wood, stones, and human.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Cultivable Microfungal Communities Inhabiting Biological Soil Crusts in the Tengger Desert, China

Abstract

Soil Biol. Biochew.

J. Arid Environ.

Eur. J. Soil Biol.

Fungal Ecol.

Eur. J. Soil Biol.

Eur. J. Soil Biol.

J. Arid Environ.

Soil Biol. Biochem.

Soil Biol. Biochem.

Res. Microbiol.

Geomorphology.

Geomorphology.

Catena.

Geomorphology.

Ecol. Eng.

Sci. Cold Arid Reg. (in Chinese).

J. Hydrol.

Soil mycoflora of the Southern Desert of Iraq

Sydowia.

A culture independent study of free-living fungi in biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau: their diversity and relative contribution to microbial biomass

Environ. Microbiol.

Patterns of diversity for fungal assemblages of biological soil crusts from the southwestern United States

Mycologia.

Preface

Species diversity and dominance in fungal community