Warming Up: Climate Change Related Shifts of Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities in High Latitude Ecosystems

• Main Author: DeVan, Megan Rae
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of New Mexico 2019
• Subjects: Ecology; Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13883998

This dissertation examines how climate change affects mycorrhizal fungal communities in boreal and arctic ecosystems. In chapter one, I revealed that increases in fire severity and related increases in deciduous tree dominance result in greater Ascomycota relative abundance (RA) and subsequent declines in Basidiomycota RA. In chapter two I analyzed the effects of post-fire mycorrhizal fungal communites on host growth. There were trends at the fungal genus level that were largely reflected at the guild level across all hosts; however, there were some fungal genera that had the opposite effect on different host species. In chapter three, I found host and depth specific effects of warming temperatures on arctic fungal communities colonizing host plants. In all three chapters there was greater resilience of mycorrhizal fungal communities colonizing hosts that are increasing in dominance across their respective biomes, and general increases in Ascomycota RA with climate change.