Dataset Information

Bark coverage shifts assembly processes of microbial decomposer communities in dead wood.

ABSTRACT: Bark protects living trees against environmental influences but may promote wood decomposition by fungi and bacteria after tree death. However, the mechanisms by which bark determines the assembly process and biodiversity of decomposers remain unknown. Therefore, we partially or completely removed bark from experimentally felled trees and tested with null modelling whether assembly processes were determined by bark coverage and if biodiversity of molecularly sampled fungi and bacteria generally benefited from increasing bark cover. The community composition of fungi, wood-decaying fungi (subset of all fungi) and bacteria clearly separated between completely debarked, partly debarked and control trees. Bacterial species richness was higher on control trees than on either partly or completely debarked trees, whereas the species richness of all fungi did not differ. However, the species richness of wood-decaying fungi was higher on partially and completely debarked trees than on control trees. Deterministic assembly processes were most important in completely debarked trees, a pattern consistent for fungi and bacteria. Our findings suggest that human disturbances in forests shift the dominant assembly mechanism from stochastic to deterministic processes and thus alter the diversity of wood-inhabiting microorganisms.

SUBMITTER: Hagge J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6790774 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bark coverage shifts assembly processes of microbial decomposer communities in dead wood.

Hagge Jonas J Bässler Claus C Gruppe Axel A Hoppe Björn B Kellner Harald H Krah Franz-Sebastian FS Müller Jörg J Seibold Sebastian S Stengel Elisa E Thorn Simon S

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20191009 1912

Bark protects living trees against environmental influences but may promote wood decomposition by fungi and bacteria after tree death. However, the mechanisms by which bark determines the assembly process and biodiversity of decomposers remain unknown. Therefore, we partially or completely removed bark from experimentally felled trees and tested with null modelling whether assembly processes were determined by bark coverage and if biodiversity of molecularly sampled fungi and bacteria generally ...[more]

PMID: 31594501

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Project description:Wood-decomposing fungi use distinct strategies to deconstruct wood that can significantly vary carbon release rates and fates. White and brown rot-type fungi attack lignin as a prerequisite to access carbohydrates (white rot) or selectively remove carbohydrates (brown rot). Soft rot fungi use less well-studied mechanisms to deconstruct wood (e.g., cavitation and erosion). These fungi often co-exist in nature, creating a balance in carbon turnover that could presumably "tip" in a changing climate. There is no simple genetic marker, however, to distinguish fungi by rot types, and traditional black and white distinctions (brown and white, in this case) cannot explain a spectrum of "gray" carbon loss possibilities. In this study, we tested 39 wood-degrading fungal strains along this spectrum of rot types. We tracked wood mass loss and chemical changes in aspen blocks in early- to mid-decay stages, including three signatures of fungal nutritional mode measured from wood rather than from fungus: dilute alkali solubility, water-soluble monosaccharides, and lignin loss (%) relative to density loss (%) (L/D). Results were then plotted relative to rot types and correlated with gene counts, combining new data with past results in some cases. Results yielded a novel distinction in soluble monosaccharide patterns for brown rot fungi, and reliable distinctions between white and brown rot fungi, although soft rot fungi were not as clearly distinguished as suggested in past studies. Gene contents (carbohydrate-active enzymes and peroxidases) also clearly distinguished brown and white rot fungi, but did not offer reliable correlation with lignin vs. carbohydrate selectivity. These results support the use of wood residue chemistry to link fungal genes (with known or unknown function) with emergent patterns of decomposition. Wood signatures, particularly L/D, not only confirm the rot type of dominant fungi, but they offer a more nuanced, continuous variable to which we can correlate genomic, transcriptomic, and secretomic evidence rather than limit it to functional categories as distinct "bins."

Dataset Information

Bark coverage shifts assembly processes of microbial decomposer communities in dead wood.

Publications

Bark coverage shifts assembly processes of microbial decomposer communities in dead wood.

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