Soil fungal community composition does not alter along a latitudinal gradient through the maritime and sub-Antarctic

• Main Authors: Dennis, PG, Rushton, SP, Newsham, KK, Ord, VJ, Daniell, TJ, O'Donnell, AG, Hopkins, DW, LAUDICINA, Vito Armando
• Other Authors: Laudicina, VA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012
• Subjects: Antarctica C:N ratio Extreme environments Latitudinal gradient pH Soil fungal community composition; Settore AGR/13 - Chimica Agraria; Alexander Island; Antarctic; Mars Oasis; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10447/66269

We investigated the relationships between fungal community composition, latitude and a range of physicochemical parameters in 58 soils sampled from a 2370 km latitudinal gradient between South Georgia (54 S, 38 W) in the sub-Antarctic and Mars Oasis (72 S, 68 W) on Alexander Island in the southern maritime Antarctic. Our study, which is based on approximately ten times the number of samples used in previous similar studies, indicates that latitude and its associated environmental parameters are not related to fungal community composition. Significant changes in the composition of soil fungal communities were observed in relation to gradients of the ratio of total organic carbon to nitrogen, and, to a lesser extent, soil pH.