Comparative sampling of Neotropical and Paleotropical elevation gradients reveals the role of climate in shaping the functional and taxonomic composition of soil-borne fungal communities in tropical forests
Abstract
Because of their steep gradients in abiotic and biotic factors, mountains offer an ideal setting to enhance our understanding of mechanisms that underlie species distributions and community assemblies. We compared the structure of taxonomically and functionally diverse soil fungal communities in soils along elevational gradients in the Neo- and Paleotropics (northern Argentina, Central America, and Borneo). We found that soil fungal community composition reflects environmental factors at both regional and pantropical scales, particularly temperature and soil pH. Elevational turnover is driven by contrasting environmental preferences among functional groups and replacement of species within functional guilds. In addition, we found that habitat preference can already be observed at the level of taxonomic orders, often irrespective of functional guild, which suggests shared physiological constraints and environmental optimum for relatively closely related taxa. Strong biogeographic structure likely reflects dispersal limitation and resulting differences in local species pools of fungi, as well as their hosts or substrates. Although the number of species shared among regions is low, remarkable similarity of functional profiles across regions suggests functional niche proportions may be driven by similar mechanisms across moist tropical forests, resulting in relatively predictable proportions of functional guilds. The pronounced compositional and functional turnover along elevation gradients driven mainly by temperature and correlated environmental factors implies that tropical montane forest fungi will likely be sensitive to climate change, resulting in variation in composition and functionality over time.
Authors 9
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Eszterhazy Karoly Catholic University · Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Affiliation as printed
Eszterházy Károly Egyetem
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
University of Arizona
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Naturalis Biodiversity Center · University of Arizona
Affiliation as printed
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
School of Plant Sciences and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A
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Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Affiliation as printed
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
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Naturalis Biodiversity Center · Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas · University of Arizona · University of Oslo · Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications · Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB
Affiliation as printed
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
CREAF-CSIC-UAB
Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
School of Plant Sciences and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A
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Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas · University of Oslo · Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications · Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB
Affiliation as printed
CREAF-CSIC-UAB
Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Affiliation as printed
University of Arizona
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Eszterhazy Karoly Catholic University · Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Affiliation as printed
Eszterházy Károly Egyetem
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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Naturalis Biodiversity Center · Duke University
Affiliation as printed
Duke University
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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