Michiel Op de Beeck
Researcher
Impact of metal pollution on fungal diversity and community structures
Author
Summary, in English
The impact of metal pollution on plant communities has been studied extensively in the past, but little is known about the effects of metal pollution on fungal communities that occur in metal-polluted soils. Metal-tolerant ecotypes of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus luteus are frequently found in pioneer pine forests in the Campine region in Belgium on metal-polluted soils. We hypothesized that metal pollution would play an important role in shaping below-ground fungal communities that occur in these soils and that Suillus luteus would be a dominant player. To test these hypotheses, the fungal communities in a young pine plantation in soil polluted with zinc, and cadmium were studied using 454 amplicon pyrosequencing. Results show that zinc, cadmium and soil organic matter content were strongly correlated with the fungal community composition, but no effects on fungal diversity were observed. As hypothesized, S. luteus was found to be a dominant member of the studied fungal communities. However, other dominant fungal species, such as Sistotrema sp., Wilcoxina mikolae and Cadophora finlandica were found as well. Their presence in metal-polluted sites is discussed.
Publishing year
2015-06
Language
English
Pages
47-2035
Publication/Series
Environmental Microbiology
Volume
17
Issue
6
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Microbiology
- Environmental Sciences
Keywords
- Ascomycota/metabolism
- Basidiomycota/metabolism
- Belgium
- Biodiversity
- Cadmium/metabolism
- Environmental Pollution
- Pinus/microbiology
- Soil/chemistry
- Soil Microbiology
- Soil Pollutants/analysis
- Zinc/metabolism
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1462-2920