Towards establishing a fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47705-7
• Publication Date: 2024-04-18T04:01:40Z
• Authors: Tessa Camenzind; Carlos A. Aguilar...; Stefan Hempel; Anika Lehmann; Milos Bielcik; Diana R. Andrade-...; Joana Bergmann; Jeane dela Cruz; Jessie Gawronski; Polina Golubeva; Heike Haslwimmer; Linda Lartey; Eva Leifheit; Stefanie Maaß; Sven Marhan; Liliana Pinek; Jeff R. Powell; Julien Roy; Stavros D. Vereso...; Dongwei Wang; Anja Wulf; Weishuang Zheng; Matthias C. Rillig
• Keywords: 570; elinkaariarviointi; Science; Trait; Plant Science; microbial ecology; Article; Fungal Diversity; Microbial Ecology; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Microbial ecology; 03 medical and health sciences; Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management; Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions; Fungal ecology; Biology; Nature and Landscape Conservation; maaperä; 0303 health sciences; Ecology; fungal economics spectrum; hiilen kierto; Functional Diversity; Q; sienieläimet; Marine Microbial Diversity and Biogeography; Life Sciences; eliöyhteisöt; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie; maaperäeliöstö; Computer science; Programming language; mikrobiekologia; fungal ecology; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; Physical Sciences; Habitat Fragmentation; ympäristönmuutokset; Ecosystem Functioning

AbstractTrait-based frameworks are promising tools to understand the functional consequences of community shifts in response to environmental change. The applicability of these tools to soil microbes is limited by a lack of functional trait data and a focus on categorical traits. To address this gap for an important group of soil microorganisms, we identify trade-offs underlying a fungal economics spectrum based on a large trait collection in 28 saprobic fungal isolates, derived from a common grassland soil and grown in culture plates. In this dataset, ecologically relevant trait variation is best captured by a three-dimensional fungal economics space. The primary explanatory axis represents a dense-fast continuum, resembling dominant life-history trade-offs in other taxa. A second significant axis reflects mycelial flexibility, and a third one carbon acquisition traits. All three axes correlate with traits involved in soil carbon cycling. Since stress tolerance and fundamental niche gradients are primarily related to the dense-fast continuum, traits of the 2nd (carbon-use efficiency) and especially the 3rd (decomposition) orthogonal axes are independent of tested environmental stressors. These findings suggest a fungal economics space which can now be tested at broader scales.