High Fungal Diversity but Low Seasonal Dynamics and Ectomycorrhizal Abundance in a Mountain Beech Forest

Abstract

Forests on steep slopes constitute a significant proportion of European mountain areas and are important as production and protection forests. This study describes the soil fungal community structure in a European beech-dominated mountain forest stands in the Northern Calcareous Alps and investigates how it is determined by season and soil properties. Samples were collected at high spatial resolution in an area of ca. 100 m × 700 m in May (spring) and August (summer). Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing of the ITS2-region revealed distinct patterns for the soil fungal communities. In contrast to other studies from temperate European beech forest stands, Ascomycota dominated the highly diverse fungal community, while ectomycorrhizal fungi were of lower abundance. Russulaceae, which are often among the dominant ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with European beech, were absent from all samples. Potentially plant pathogenic fungi were more prevalent than previously reported. Only subtle seasonal differences were found between fungal communities in spring and summer. Especially, dominant saprotrophic taxa were largely unaffected by season, while slightly stronger effects were observed for ectomycorrhizal fungi. Soil characteristics like pH and organic carbon content, on the other hand, strongly shaped abundant taxa among the saprotrophic fungal community.