Soil fungi distributions depend on microhabitat partitioning of canopy
in urban forest ecosystem
- Qiang Fu,
- Yuanzhuo Wang,
- Zi Liu,
- Erjian Wei,
- Yongzhong Ye,
- Yun Chen,
- Guohui Fan
Abstract
In urban forests, soil fungal communities play a crucial role, but how
the spatial distribution characteristics of fungi respond to changes in
canopy structure remains unclear. This uncertainty represents an
important knowledge gap, as the synergistic effect between the
aboveground plant community and the underground fungal community
significantly contributes to the stability, resilience, and
anti-interference capability of the ecosystem. In this study, we
characterized soil fungal communities in 30 plant communities with
diverse canopy microhabitats within an urban forest ecosystem in China.
Through network analysis and torus-translation testing, we were able to
ascertain the microhabitats preferences of fungal species. Subsequently,
we analyzed the fungi-environment relationships among various canopy
microhabitats using NMDS, Mantel tests, and Pearson correlation
analysis.The results revealed that different canopy microhabitats favor
the presence of distinct fungal species, and there are notable
differences in the fungi-environment relationships across various canopy
microhabitats in warm temperate urban ecosystems. Our findings indicate
that the distribution of fungi has strong associations with canopy
microhabitats, which could exert significant effects on fungal diversity
in warm temperate urban ecosystems. Our research provides novel insights
into the mechanisms by which complex soil fungal communities respond to
alterations in the canopy structure of plant communities.20 Sep 2024Submitted to Ecology and Evolution 20 Sep 2024Submission Checks Completed
20 Sep 2024Assigned to Editor
27 Sep 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
30 Oct 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Nov 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor