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FRIBIO2-FRIPRO forskerprosjekt, biologi

Linking the soil mycobiome to ecosystem diversity, productivity and carbon sequestration in boreal forests

Alternative title: Jordboende sopp i boreale skoger - deres økosystemfunksjon og innvirkning på karbonlagring

Awarded: NOK 9.0 mill.

Boreal forests cover about 11% of the land surface of the Earth and make up the world's second largest terrestrial biome. The boreal region holds a large amount of the world's carbon, in living trees, forest vegetation, and soil microbial biomass, as well as stored in the soil as dead organic matter. Understanding their functioning is important for any models of their potential development in response to the ongoing climate change. Soil fungi are highly important in these ecosystems, having diverse functions as decomposers of organic material, mycorrhizal symbionts, as well as pathogens. The structure of fungal communities and their ecological roles can only be fully understood when studied in their natural environment, which will be done in the MycoSoil project. Our ambitious goal is to make fundamental progress in the understanding of the community ecology and functions of fungi in boreal forest soils and how the diversity, composition and activity of the fungal communities commute with the diversity and productivity of co-occurring plants. In the Mycosoil there are three different sub-parts focusing on (1) seasonality of fungi and other microeukaryotes, (2) large-scale structure and function of the boreal forest soil mycobiome and (3) small-scale structure. Concerning seasonality, soil samples have been obtained throughout a year from a forest area and DNA- and RNA-based information has been obtained for the soil dwelling organisms, as well as information on proteins and metabolites. This extensive dataset is now being analyzed and will likely end up in 2-3 publications, describing how the soil microorganisms varies in communities and functional activities seasonally. In the two other sub-parts, we analyze the boreal forest soil organisms at different spatial scales along environmental gradients. In one part we have obtained information from 62 plots used in the national forest monitoring program of Norway (landsskogstaksering). These data are used to assess how various abiotic and biotic factors, including forest management, affects and structure the soil communities. We are also looking into how carbon sequestration processes are affected by different environmental factors. We are now in the process of writing up numerous publications based on these data.

Prosjektet representere trolig det første store studiet av diversitet i skogsjord i Norge basert på DNA-metabarcoding analyser. Prosjektet vil således gi fundamental ny forståelse av diversiteten av mikroorganismer og sopp i skogsjord - og hvilke faktorer som regulerer denne diversiteten. Prosjektet vil i særdeleshet gi økt kunnskap om hvordan skogbruk, en av faktorene vi har sett på, påvirker diversiteten. Prosjektet vil videre gi kunnskap om hvordan diversitet av mikroorganismer er knytta til ulike økosystemtjenester, inkludert karbonlagring. Nyere forskning indikerer at det er mikroorganismer som i stor grad regulerer hvor mye karbon som lagres i skogsjord gjennom deres nedbrytervirksomhet. Prosjektet har generert enorme mengder data som vil bli benytta i lang tid fremover i ulike studier. Vi har også opppnått fundamental ny forståelse av hvordan diversitet kan analyseres gjennom DNA-analyser. Denne kunnskapen vil bli videreført i en rekke nye aktiviteter og prosjekter.

The wide distribution of boreal forests and the fact that they efficiently store large stocks of carbon make these ecosystems globally important. Soil fungi play a main functional role in these ecosystems; while saprotrophic taxa are essential for organic matter decomposition; mycorrhizal root-associated fungi mediate the link between living plants and the below-ground community. This link is a key regulator of ecosystem diversity, productivity and carbon sequestration. The goal of the MycoSoil project is to make fundamental progress in the understanding of the community ecology and functions of fungi in boreal forest soils, how they are organized spatiotemporally and how they influence on carbon sequestration processes. We will take advantage of linking the project to long-term surveys of boreal forests, one for local-scale analyses, as well as a grid of 8,700 survey forest plots covering Norway, which together provide extensive information about forest composition and history, productivity and environmental conditions. We aim at identifying the main drivers for fungal community structure and variation in mycelial biomass in boreal forests across different soil horizons, with an emphasis on describing and explaining compositional differences among functional groups of fungi. The structure of the soil mycobiome will be related to plant species richness, productivity and carbon sequestration processes. Further, we will quantify intra-annual shifts in activity and biomass of soil fungi. We will use state-of-the-art DNA metabarcoding and metatranscriptomics approaches to address the research questions. The synthesis of the broad-scale genetic and environmental datasets will give us an unprecedented opportunity to gain new insight into the dynamic relationships between belowground fungal communities, above-ground plant communities, and forest productivity and carbon sequestration. To fulfil our ambitious aims we apply funding for two three-year research fellowships.

Funding scheme:

FRIBIO2-FRIPRO forskerprosjekt, biologi

Funding Sources