Article
Plant Sciences
Natalie L. Cleavitt, John J. Battles, Timothy J. Fahey, Natalie S. van Doorn
Summary: Global environmental changes, such as air pollution and biotic invasion, have complex effects on ecosystems due to the interaction of multiple stressors. In a maple-beech forest affected by the beech bark disease complex, a watershed-scale calcium addition successfully restored soil calcium levels, leading to significant responses in seed production, sapling survival, and tree growth. This study highlights the importance of considering long-term demographic rates and competitive interactions in the face of global change for species persistence and migration potential.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Alexis Carteron, Fabien Cichonski, Etienne Laliberte
Summary: The study found that temperate EcM forests store more soil organic carbon than AM forests, but this is not solely attributed to the Gadgil effect. Organic matter exposed to external fungal hyphae decomposed faster, especially in EcM forests.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Catalina Salgado-Salazar, Demetra N. Skaltsas, Tunesha Phipps, Lisa A. Castlebury
Summary: Neonectria faginata and Neonectria coccinea are the causal agents of beech bark disease, with highly contiguous genome assemblies including similar gene counts and functional categories. Approximately 32% of their predicted proteomes are associated with pathogenicity, with N. coccinea showing a higher number of mitogen-activated protein kinase genes. Additionally, their genomes contain a wide range of genes encoding enzymes for degrading plant polysaccharides.
G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Catalina Salgado-Salazar, Demetra N. Skaltsas, Tunesha Phipps, Lisa A. Castlebury
Summary: Neonectria faginata and Neonectria coccinea are causal agents of beech bark disease, with similar genome assemblies but differences in virulence determinants. Both species possess enzymes capable of degrading plant polysaccharides and a small number of secretory effector proteins.
G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Peng Yan, Chen Shen, Zhenhao Zou, Lichao Fan, Xin Li, Liping Zhang, Lan Zhang, Chunwang Dong, Jianyu Fu, Wenyan Han, Lingling Shi
Summary: Soil fungal communities in tea gardens respond differently to soil fertility depending on their vertical spatial locations. Fertility treatment can affect fungal diversity and alter network structure and ecosystem function in tea garden subsoils.
Article
Microbiology
Qingchao Zeng, Annie Lebreton, Lucas Auer, Xiaowu Man, Liukun Jia, Gengshen Wang, Sai Gong, Vincent Lombard, Marc Buee, Gang Wu, Yucheng Dai, Zhuliang Yang, Francis M. Martin
Summary: This study investigated the relationship between soil fungal diversity and functional genetic traits in montane old-growth forests. The results revealed a functional potential of soil fungal communities in organic matter decomposition, with remarkable functional similarity across fungal guilds despite their taxonomic composition variations. The study also highlighted the importance of understanding functional gene expression patterns in predicting ecosystem functioning.
Article
Forestry
Hong Lin, Sirong Zhang, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma, Naili Zhang
Summary: Plant diversity, including both tree species richness and within-species genetic richness, plays a significant role in shaping soil fungal communities. Our study used DNA metabarcoding to analyze fungal functional guilds and environmental properties in a large experiment manipulating tree species and genetic richness. We found that tree species richness indirectly decreased soil fungal diversity, while tree genetic richness increased it by changing soil properties. These results highlight the importance of considering both within and between species effects on soil fungal diversity and exploring the dimensions of biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jiaxing Wang, Jing Gao, Haoqiang Zhang, Ming Tang
Summary: The soil fungal community plays a crucial role in the maintenance and sustainable development of forest ecosystems. This study analyzed soil environmental changes and the composition of the soil fungal community at different stand ages in Pinus tabuliformis plantations. The results showed that the content of available phosphorus (AP) in the soil significantly affected the community composition of soil fungi and influenced the degradation of the plantations.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Hans-Peter Rusterholz, Bruno Baur
Summary: The degree of urbanization and local forest characteristics significantly affect the soil fungal community. Forests in areas with low urbanization have higher fungal richness, while forests in areas with high urbanization have higher fungal community diversity. The increasing degree of urbanization leads to changes in the composition of soil fungal communities.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Luis Daniel Prada-Salcedo, Kezia Goldmann, Anna Heintz-Buschart, Thomas Reitz, Janna Wambsganss, Jurgen Bauhus, Francois Buscot
Summary: Research shows that tree traits have a significant impact on soil fungal communities, rather than tree species diversity. Tree traits can be categorized as 'fast' and 'slow', driving different fungal guilds and influencing biogeochemical cycles.
Article
Soil Science
Siyu Xu, Ke Dong, Sangseob Lee, Matthew Chidozie Ogwu, Sainbileg Undrakhbold, Dharmesh Singh, Dagvatseren Ariunzaya, Orsoo Enkhmandal, Laura A. Spence, Anarmaa Sharkhuu, Brenda B. Casper, Jonathan M. Adams, Bazartseren Boldgiv
Summary: This study investigated fairy rings in a grassland in northern Mongolia and found reduced fungal diversity and different fungal communities in the present stage compared to other stages. The pathogenic fungus Gibberella baccata increased in most rings, while the saprotrophic fairy ring fungus Lepista luscina appeared in several rings without producing mushrooms. Broader sampling and analysis of non-fungal biota are needed to understand the functional diversity of fairy ring fungi and its impact on plant communities.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kun Wang, Yinli Bi, Yong Cao, Suping Peng, Peter Christie, Shaopeng Ma, Jiayu Zhang, Linlin Xie
Summary: The study revealed that the diversity, composition, and ecological guilds of soil fungal communities change over time during the revegetation process in a mining area. These changes are closely related to edaphic properties and suggest interactions between edaphic properties and soil fungal communities.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Hang Zhao, Fanbing Zhang, Yin Wang, Jianming Wang, Jingwen Li, Zhixiang Zhang
Summary: Soil fungal communities are vital for ecosystem functions and have been extensively studied in different plant communities. However, the drivers and pathways influencing soil fungal community dynamics in warm temperate secondary forests remain to be explored. This study characterized the diversity and composition of soil fungal communities in six typical plant communities in warm temperate secondary forests using high-throughput sequencing and the FUNGuild platform. The results revealed the dominant fungal taxa and highlighted the importance of forest type, soil properties, and other factors (climate, altitude, plant diversity) in driving changes in soil fungal community structure.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Tony Yang, Bianca Evans, Luke D. Bainard
Summary: Including pulse crops in cereal-based cropping systems is a widely accepted practice to increase crop diversification and biologically fixed nitrogen. However, increasing pulse frequency in crop rotations in semiarid environments may cause significant shifts in soil microbial communities, particularly affecting fungal and bacterial composition and potentially increasing soil-borne disease risk.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Litao Lin, Xin Jing, Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja, Congcong Shen, Yugang Wang, Wenting Feng
Summary: Salinization poses a great threat to soil fungal communities, and the rare taxa play a crucial role in mediating the impacts of salinization on the structure of the fungal community. The rare taxa of soil saprotrophic, symbiotrophic, and pathotrophic fungi are more sensitive to changes in soil salinity compared to the abundant taxa. The community composition of rare taxa of saprotrophic and pathotrophic fungi, but not symbiotrophic fungi, is positively associated with soil salinity change. The findings highlight the importance of considering rare taxa in predicting the responses of soil fungal communities to soil salinization.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Cecilia M. Prada, Benjamin L. Turner, James W. Dalling
Summary: The differences in nutrient acquisition pathways between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi may influence seedling growth and nitrogen availability in montane forests of Central America.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Julie Faure, Silvana Marten-Rodriguez, John L. Clark, Simon Joly
Summary: The study found that the shape of the corolla of Antillean Gesneriaceae is correlated with the bill shape of hummingbird pollinators, but this relationship differs between pollination specialists and generalists. For specialists, corolla curvature is positively correlated with bill curvature, whereas this correlation is not present for generalists.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCES
(2022)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Simon Joly
Summary: Species with red and yellow leaves in the fall have a higher rate of nitrogen resorption before leaf fall, which supports the photoprotection hypothesis and allows for better nutrient recycling.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Dan Sun, Wen Zhang, Huayuan Feng, Xinyuan Li, Ran Han, Benjamin L. Turner, Rongliang Qiu, Yue Cao, Lena Q. Ma
Summary: Research on the novel root-specific phytase PvPHY1 from As-hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata showed that it can efficiently utilize organic phosphorus in soil, enhancing plant growth and P accumulation. PvPHY1 facilitates P uptake from soils and phytate hydrolysis in plants, thus promoting tobacco growth.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maryane Gradito, Catherine Fauteux, Simon Joly
Summary: This study found that the white trillium displays both seasonal and daily heliotropism, with south-facing individuals showing a 12% increase in fertilized ovules compared to north-facing plants. This suggests that heliotropism may be advantageous for more species among early spring flowers in temperate forests.
Review
Engineering, Environmental
Xue Liu, Ran Han, Yue Cao, Benjamin L. Turner, Lena Q. Ma
Summary: This article introduces the availability of phytate in soils and the process of phytate-P acquisition by plants. It also discusses agronomic approaches and biotechnological strategies to improve soil phytate-P utilization by plants, and raises questions that need further research. This information helps to enhance the efficiency of phytate-P utilization by plants, thereby reducing the demand for phosphorus resources and pollution risks to the environment.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Agronomy
Ryota Aoyagi, Kanehiro Kitayama, Benjamin L. Turner
Summary: This article discusses how tropical tree species maintain high growth rates on low-phosphorus soils and proposes traits and mechanisms related to phosphorus uptake and use efficiency. Despite the prevalence of low-phosphorus soils in the tropics, research on phosphorus use efficiency and acquisition mechanisms in tropical trees is limited.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Valerie Poulin, Delase Amesefe, Emmanuel Gonzalez, Hermine Alexandre, Simon Joly
Summary: This study aims to identify candidate genes involved in corolla shape variation between two closely related species of the Rhytidophyllum genus. By conducting a comparative transcriptome sequence analysis and QTL mapping, three genes (RADIALIS, GLOBOSA, and JAGGED) were found to be strongly associated with corolla shape variation. These findings provide a first step towards understanding the genetic basis of reproductive isolation and speciation in this genus.
Article
Limnology
Matthew T. Costa, Exequiel Ezcurra, Paula Ezcurra, Pelayo Salinas-de-Leon, Benjamin Turner, Joy Kumagai, James Leichter, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza
Summary: Estimating the long-term sedimentary carbon sinks of mangroves and other blue carbon ecosystems is important for coastal research and conservation. This study assessed the limits of mangrove sedimentary carbon storage by sampling sediments in diverse mangrove environments. The results demonstrated that sediment depth largely explained the variation in carbon stock across the areas studied.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Marion Lemenager, Jerome Burkiewicz, Daniel J. Schoen, Simon Joly
Summary: The difficulty in quantitatively characterizing the three-dimensional morphology of flowers has limited previous studies to two-dimensional analysis. This study presents a photogrammetry protocol that can rapidly and accurately reconstruct three-dimensional models of flowers from two-dimensional images. The method is affordable, requires minimal equipment, and can be used directly in the field, making it a valuable tool for studying flower morphology in three dimensions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Tammy L. Elliott, Frantisek Zedek, Russell L. Barrett, Jeremy J. Bruhl, Marcial Escudero, Zdenka Hroudova, Simon Joly, Isabel Larridon, Modesto Luceno, Jose Ignacio Marquez-Corro, Santiago Martin-Bravo, A. Muthama Muasya, Petr Smarda, William Wayt Thomas, Karen L. Wilson, Petr Bures
Summary: This study investigates genome and mean chromosome size in the cyperid clade and reveals that cyperids have the smallest mean chromosome size in seed plants, with a large divergence between the smallest and largest values. It is found that cyperid species with smaller chromosomes have larger geographical distributions, and there is a strong inverse association between mean chromosome size and number in this lineage.
Editorial Material
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Benjamin L. Turner
Summary: A 3-year field experiment indicates that plant responses to elevated CO2 in phosphorus-limited grasslands rely on the biogeochemical interplay between soil microbes and plants.
Article
Biology
Ryota Aoyagi, Richard Condit, Benjamin L. Turner
Summary: Hierarchical Bayesian analysis was used to test variations in growth and mortality of 40,000 individual trees from over 400 species in tropical forests of Panama. Contrary to theoretical expectations, tree species adapted to low-phosphorus soils showed faster growth rates and lower mortality rates than those adapted to high-phosphorus soils.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Benjamin L. Turner
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maryane Gradito, Catherine Fauteux, Simon Joly
Summary: This study demonstrates the presence of heliotropism in the white trillium, an early spring blooming species from temperate forests of eastern North America. The white trillium shows both seasonal and daily heliotropism, with south-facing individuals experiencing a reproductive advantage. The study suggests that there may be other early spring flowers from temperate forests that benefit from heliotropism.
