Characterization of active and total fungal communities in the atmosphere over the Amazon rainforest
Fungi are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and may play an important role in atmospheric processes. We investigated the composition and diversity of fungal communities over the Amazon rainforest canopy and compared these communities to fungal communities found in terrestrial environments. We characteriz...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-11-01
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Series: | Biogeosciences |
Online Access: | http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/6337/2015/bg-12-6337-2015.pdf |
Summary: | Fungi are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and may play an important role in
atmospheric processes. We investigated the composition and diversity of
fungal communities over the Amazon rainforest canopy and compared these
communities to fungal communities found in terrestrial environments. We
characterized the total fungal community and the metabolically active
portion of the community using high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing and
compared these data to predictions generated by a mass-balance model. We
found that the total community was primarily comprised of fungi from the
phylum Basidiomycota. In contrast, the active community was primarily
composed of members of the phylum Ascomycota and included a high relative
abundance of lichen fungi, which were not detected in the total community.
The relative abundance of Basidiomycota and Ascomycota in the total and
active communities was consistent with our model predictions, suggesting
that this result was driven by the relative size and number of spores
produced by these groups. When compared to other environments, fungal
communities in the atmosphere were most similar to communities found in
tropical soils and leaf surfaces. Our results demonstrate that there are
significant differences in the composition of the total and active fungal
communities in the atmosphere, and that lichen fungi, which have been shown
to be efficient ice nucleators, may be abundant members of active
atmospheric fungal communities over the forest canopy. |
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ISSN: | 1726-4170 1726-4189 |