Belowground fungal communities in pioneer Scots pine stands growing on heavy metal polluted and non-polluted soils

Summary, in English

The impact of soil metal pollution on plant communities has been studied extensively in the past.
However, very little is known about the fungal species that co-occur with these plant communities on
metal polluted soils.We characterized the belowground fungal community in a heavy metal polluted and
a non-polluted soil using 454 pyrosequencing. The fungal communities at both study sites were shown to
consist mainly of the same ectomycorrhizal species, but a consistent shift in the relative abundances of
these species was observed, whereas no differences in fungal diversity were found. In metal polluted soil,
root tips of young pines were initially largely colonized by stress-tolerant dark Ascomycota that were
mostly replaced by metal-tolerant Basidiomycota within 2 years. Compared to older forests, a low
belowground fungal diversity was observed in the two pioneer stands.

• Author: Michiel Op de Beeck; Joske Ruytinx; Mark Smits; Jaco Vangronsveld; Jan V. Colpaert
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Pages: 58-66
• Publication/Series: Soil Biology & Biochemistry
• Volume: 86
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.03.007
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Microbiology; Ecology; Environmental Sciences
• Keywords: Metal pollution; Fungal community; Succession; Metabarcoding; 454 pyrosequencing
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0038-0717