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. 2021 Feb 22:12:567961.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.567961. eCollection 2021.

Tree Species Richness and Neighborhood Effects on Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Richness and Community Structure in Boreal Forest

Eveli Otsing  1 , Sten Anslan  1 , Elia Ambrosio  1 , Julia Koricheva  2 , Leho Tedersoo  1   3
Affiliations

Tree Species Richness and Neighborhood Effects on Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Richness and Community Structure in Boreal Forest

Eveli Otsing et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Tree species identity is one of the key factors driving ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal richness and community composition in boreal and temperate forest ecosystems, but little is known about the influence of tree species combinations and their neighborhood effects on EcM communities. To advance our understanding of host plant effects on EcM fungi, the roots of silver birch, Scots pine, and Norway spruce were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing across mature boreal forest exploratory plots of monocultures and two- and three-species mixtures in Finland. Our analyses revealed that tree species identity was an important determinant of EcM fungal community composition, but tree species richness had no significant influence on EcM fungal richness and community composition. We found that EcM fungal community composition associated with spruce depends on neighboring tree species. Our study suggests that at a regional-scale tree species identity is the primary factor determining community composition of root-associated EcM fungi alongside with tree species composition effects on EcM fungal community of spruce in mixed stands.

Keywords: boreal forest; ectomycorrhizal fungi; fungal community structure; fungal richness; neighborhood effects.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Abundances of major ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal genera (A) on the roots of Betula pendula, Pinus sylvestris, and Picea abies. Abundances of major EcM fungal genera on the roots of (B) Betula pendula, (C) Pinus sylvestris, and (D) Picea abies in different forest stands (monoculture and mixed stands). The data represent the mean values of the relative abundances of ITS2 amplicons expressed as percentages. B, birch; P, pine; S, spruce; BP, birch-pine; BS, birch-spruce; PS, pine-spruce; and BPS, birch-pine-spruce.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A Venn diagram displaying the proportion of EcM fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared among Betula pendula, Pinus sylvestris, and Picea abies.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Tree species identity, (C) tree species composition, and (E) tree species richness effects on richness of EcM fungi. (B) Tree species identity, (D) tree species composition, and (F) tree species richness effect on evenness of EcM fungi. EcM fungal richness estimation is based on standardized residuals. Data represent the means of all samples with SEs. Different letters denote significant differences (p < 0.05) among factor levels. B, birch; P, pine; S, spruce; BP, birch-pine; BS, birch-spruce; PS, pine-spruce; BPS, birch-pine-spruce; 1, monospecific; 2, two-species mixtures; and 3, three-species mixture.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Tree species composition and (C) tree species richness effects on richness of EcM fungi. (B) Tree species composition and (D) tree species richness effects on evenness of EcM fungi. EcM fungal richness estimation is based on standardized residuals. Data represent the means of all samples with SEs. Different letters denote significant differences (p < 0.05) among factor levels. B, birch; P, pine; S, spruce; BP, birch-pine; BS, birch-spruce; PS, pine-spruce; BPS, birch-pine-spruce; 1, monospecific; 2, two-species mixtures; and 3, three-species mixture.
Figure 5
Figure 5
NMDS plots of EcM fungal community composition for the three studied factors: (A) tree species identity, (C) tree species composition, and (E) tree species richness. Tree species composition effects were visualized separately for (B) B. pendula, (D) P. sylvestris and (F) P. abies. Ellipses denote 95% CIs for the different groups.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plots of EcM fungal community composition for tree species identity and tree species composition.
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