Spatial Separation of Litter Decomposition and Mycorrhizal Nitrogen Uptake in a Boreal Forest

$\bullet$Our understanding of how saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi interact to recirculate carbon and nutrients from plant litter and soil organic matter is limited by poor understanding of their spatiotemporal dynamics.$\bullet$In order to investigate how different functional groups of fungi cont...

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Published in:The New phytologist Vol. 173; no. 3; pp. 611 - 620
Main Authors: Lindahl, Björn D., Katarina Ihrmark, Johanna Boberg, Trumbore, Susan E., Högberg, Peter, Stenlid, Jan, Finlay, Roger D.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science 01.01.2007
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:
Biodegradation, Environmental
boreal forests
carbon
Carbon - metabolism
community
community structure
DNA, Intergenic - genetics
DNA, Plant - genetics
forest ecosystems
Forest litter
Forest soils
fungal communities
Fungi
host plants
Humus
Mineral soils
Mycorrhizae - metabolism
Mycorrhizal fungi
nitrogen
Nitrogen - metabolism
nutrient cycling
Phylogeny
Pinus sylvestris
Pinus sylvestris - metabolism
Pinus sylvestris - microbiology
Plant litter
podzol
soil
Soil horizons
Soil Microbiology
Soil organic matter
Taxa
terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T‐RFLP)
Trees - metabolism
Trees - microbiology
ISSN:0028-646X, 1469-8137
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:$\bullet$Our understanding of how saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi interact to recirculate carbon and nutrients from plant litter and soil organic matter is limited by poor understanding of their spatiotemporal dynamics.$\bullet$In order to investigate how different functional groups of fungi contribute to carbon and nitrogen cycling at different stages of decomposition, we studied changes in fungal community composition along vertical profiles through a Pinus sylvestris forest soil. We combined molecular identification methods with14C dating of the organic matter, analyses of carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratios and15N natural abundance measurements.$\bullet$Saprotrophic fungi were primarily confined to relatively recently (< 4 yr) shed litter components on the surface of the forest floor, where organic carbon was mineralized while nitrogen was retained. Mycorrhizal fungi dominated in the underlying, more decomposed litter and humus, where they apparently mobilized N and made it available to their host plants.$\bullet$Our observations show that the degrading and nutrient-mobilizing components of the fungal community are spatially separated. This has important implications for biogeochemical studies of boreal forest ecosystems.
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ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01936.x