Aboveground-belowground linkages: Extrapolating local to global fungal biodiversity
L. TAYLOR (1), T. Hollingsworth (2), J. McFarland (3), R. Ruess (4), I. Timling (4), D. Walker (4). (1) University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, U.S.A.; (2) USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Boreal Ecology Cooperative Research Unit, Fairbanks, AK, U.S.A.; (3) U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, U.S.A.; (4) University of Alaska, Fairbanks,
Despite their importance to natural and agroecosystems, the magnitude and structure of fungal diversity on Earth are highly uncertain. We carried out an exhaustive molecular census of fungi in soil in a relatively simple ecosystem – black spruce forests of Interior Alaska. We achieved the first saturated census of soil fungi in a forested system and show that the fungus:plant ratio is at least 17:1 and is regionally stable. A global extrapolation of this ratio would suggest 6 million species of fungi, as opposed to leading estimates of 616,000 to 1.5 million. We have carried out similar surveys along transects from the low to the high arctic, and find that fungus:plant ratios are not consistent at this wider geographic scale, making global extrapolation problematic. In both our boreal and arctic studies, we find strong niche-partitioning among closely related fungi. In this presentation, we will touch on the biogeographic, functional and evolutionary implications of these findings.
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