Ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi respond differently to long-term experimentally increased snow depth in the High Arctic

• Published in: MicrobiologyOpen
• Main Authors: Mundra, Sunil, Halvorsen, Rune, Kauserud, Håvard, Bahram, Mohammad, Tedersoo, Leho, Elberling, Bo, Cooper, Elisabeth J., Eidesen, Pernille Bronken
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Systematisk biologi 2016
• Subjects: Arctic ecology; climate change; fungal richness and communities; Illumina sequencing; Spitsbergen; Svalbard; temporal variation; winter warming; Microbiology; Mikrobiologi; Soil Science; Markvetenskap; Arctic; Climate change; permafrost
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-297241; https://doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.375

Changing climate is expected to alter precipitation patterns in the Arctic, with consequences for subsurface temperature and moisture conditions, community structure, and nutrient mobilization through microbial belowground processes. Here, we address the effect of increased snow depth on the variation in species richness and community structure of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and saprotrophic fungi. Soil samples were collected weekly from mid-July to mid-September in both control and deep snow plots. Richness of ECM fungi was higher, while saprotrophic fungi was lower in increased snow depth plots relative to controls. ECM fungal richness was related to soil NO3-N, NH4-N, and K; and saprotrophic fungi to NO3-N and pH. Small but significant changes in the composition of saprotrophic fungi could be attributed to snow treatment and sampling time, but not so for the ECM fungi. Delayed snow melt did not influence the temporal variation in fungal communities between the treatments. Results suggest that some fungal species are favored, while others are disfavored resulting in their local extinction due to long-term changes in snow amount. Shifts in species composition of fungal functional groups are likely to affect nutrient cycling, ecosystem respiration, and stored permafrost carbon.