Changes in composition and abundance of functional groups of arctic fungi in response to long-term summer warming

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Authors: Geml, József, Semenova, Tatiana A., Morgado, Luis N., Welker, Jeffrey M.
• Other Authors: Office of Polar Programs, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2016
• Subjects: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous); Arctic; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0503; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0503; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0503

We characterized fungal communities in dry and moist tundra and investigated the effect of long-term experimental summer warming on three aspects of functional groups of arctic fungi: richness, community composition and species abundance. Warming had profound effects on community composition, abundance, and, to a lesser extent, on richness of fungal functional groups. In addition, our data show that even within functional groups, the direction and extent of response to warming tend to be species-specific and we recommend that studies on fungal communities and their roles in nutrient cycling take into account species-level responses.