Simple Summary:& nbsp;Regenerating forests represent over half of all tropical forests. While regeneration processes of trees and animal groups have been studied, there is surprisingly little... Show moreSimple Summary:& nbsp;Regenerating forests represent over half of all tropical forests. While regeneration processes of trees and animal groups have been studied, there is surprisingly little information about how the diversity and community composition of fungi and other microorganisms change and what ecological roles play in tropical forest regeneration. In this study, we compared the diversity and community composition of trees and soil fungi among primary forests and regenerating forests of different ages in two sampling areas in southern Costa Rica. Our study shows that while forest age has a significant influence, environmental factors, such as mesoclimate and soil chemistry, have stronger effects on both fungal and tree communities. Moreover, we observed that the more dissimilar tree communities are between any two sites, the more dissimilar the composition of fungal communities. The results presented here contribute to a better understanding of the successional processes of tropical forests in different regions and inform land use and forest management strategies, including, but not limited to, conservation, restoration, and sustainable use.Successional dynamics of plants and animals during tropical forest regeneration have been thoroughly studied, while fungal compositional dynamics during tropical forest succession remain unknown, despite the crucial roles of fungi in ecological processes. We combined tree data and soil fungal DNA metabarcoding data to compare richness and community composition along secondary forest succession in Costa Rica and assessed the potential roles of abiotic factors influencing them. We found a strong coupling of tree and soil fungal community structure in wet tropical primary and regenerating secondary forests. Forest age, edaphic variables, and regional differences in climatic conditions all had significant effects on tree and fungal richness and community composition in all functional groups. Furthermore, we observed larger site-to-site compositional differences and greater influence of edaphic and climatic factors in secondary than in primary forests. The results suggest greater environmental heterogeneity and greater stochasticity in community assembly in the early stages of secondary forest succession and a certain convergence on a set of taxa with a competitive advantage in the more persisting environmental conditions in old-growth forests. Our work provides unprecedented insights into the successional dynamics of fungal communities during secondary tropical forest succession. Show less
Thomson, S.A.; Pyle, R.L.; Ahyong, S.T.; Alonso, Z.M.; Ammirati, J.; Araya, J.F.; ... ; et al 2018
BackgroundMales of Opadometa are difficult to associate with conspecific females, and sex-matching errors may persist in the taxonomic literature. Recommended best practices for definitive sex... Show moreBackgroundMales of Opadometa are difficult to associate with conspecific females, and sex-matching errors may persist in the taxonomic literature. Recommended best practices for definitive sex matching in this genus suggest finding a male in the web of a female, or better yet, mating pairs.New informationA male Opadometa was observed hanging on a frame line of the web of a female Opadometa sarawakensis, a species for which the male was previously undescribed. This occurred during a tropical ecology field course held at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia. A taxonomic description was completed as a course activity. Show less
Tropical mountains are hot spots of biodiversity and endemism,but the evolutionary origins of their unique biotas are poorlyunderstood. In varying degrees, local and regional extinction,long... Show moreTropical mountains are hot spots of biodiversity and endemism,but the evolutionary origins of their unique biotas are poorlyunderstood. In varying degrees, local and regional extinction,long-distance colonization, and local recruitment may all contribute to the exceptional character of these communities. Also, it isdebated whether mountain endemics mostly originate from locallowland taxa, or from lineages that reach the mountain by long-range dispersal from cool localities elsewhere. Here we investigatethe evolutionary routes to endemism by sampling an entire tropical mountain biota on the 4,095-metre-high Mount Kinabalu inSabah, East Malaysia. We discover that most of its unique biodiversity is younger than the mountain itself (6 million years), andcomprises a mix of immigrant pre-adapted lineages and descendants from local lowland ancestors, although substantial shiftsfrom lower to higher vegetation zones in this latter group wererare. These insights could improve forecasts of the likelihood ofextinction and ‘evolutionary rescue in montane biodiversity hotspots under climate change scenarios. Show less
Arctic regions are experiencing the greatest rates of climate warming on the planet and marked changes have already been observed in terrestrial arctic ecosystems. While most studies have focused... Show moreArctic regions are experiencing the greatest rates of climate warming on the planet and marked changes have already been observed in terrestrial arctic ecosystems. While most studies have focused on the effects of warming on arctic vegetation and nutrient cycling, little is known about how belowground communities, such as fungi root‐associated, respond to warming. Here, we investigate how long‐term summer warming affects ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities. We used Ion Torrent sequencing of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region to compare ECM fungal communities in plots with and without long‐term experimental warming in both dry and moist tussock tundra. Cortinarius was the most OTU‐rich genus in the moist tundra, while the most diverse genus in the dry tundra was Tomentella. On the diversity level, in the moist tundra we found significant differences in community composition, and a sharp decrease in the richness of ECM fungi due to warming. On the functional level, our results indicate that warming induces shifts in the extramatrical properties of the communities, where the species with medium‐distance exploration type seem to be favored with potential implications for the mobilization of different nutrient pools in the soil. In the dry tundra, neither community richness nor community composition was significantly altered by warming, similar to what had been observed in ECM host plants. There was, however, a marginally significant increase in OTUs identified as ECM fungi with the medium‐distance exploration type in the warmed plots. Linking our findings of decreasing richness with previous results of increasing ECM fungal biomass suggests that certain ECM species are favored by warming and may become more abundant, while many other species may go locally extinct due to direct or indirect effects of warming. Such compositional shifts in the community might affect nutrient cycling and soil organic C storage. Show less
Arctic tundra regions have been responding to global warming with visible changes in plant community composition, including expansion of shrubs and declines in lichens and bryophytes. Even though... Show moreArctic tundra regions have been responding to global warming with visible changes in plant community composition, including expansion of shrubs and declines in lichens and bryophytes. Even though it is well known that the majority of arctic plants are associated with their symbiotic fungi, how fungal community composition will be different with climate warming remains largely unknown. In this study, we addressed the effects of long‐term (18 years) experimental warming on the community composition and taxonomic richness of soil ascomycetes in dry and moist tundra types. Using deep Ion Torrent sequencing, we quantified how OTU assemblage and richness of different orders of Ascomycota changed in response to summer warming. Experimental warming significantly altered ascomycete communities with stronger responses observed in the moist tundra compared with dry tundra. The proportion of several lichenized and moss‐associated fungi decreased with warming, while the proportion of several plant and insect pathogens and saprotrophic species was higher in the warming treatment. The observed alterations in both taxonomic and ecological groups of ascomycetes are discussed in relation to previously reported warming‐induced shifts in arctic plant communities, including decline in lichens and bryophytes and increase in coverage and biomass of shrubs. Show less
Geml, J.; Gravendeel, B.; Gaag, K.J. van der; Neilen, M.; Lammers, Y.; Raes, N.; ... ; Noordeloos, M.E. 2014
