Abstract
Soil fungal communities are complex and heterogeneous, possessing important functions in most terrestrial ecological systems. Their study has been advanced
due to the development of high-throughput sequencing, which allow for complex fungal communities to be described with techniques such as metabarcoding. The Falkland Islands contain large populations of breeding
seabirds; one such internationally recognised area is Saunders Island, located off the coast of the West Falkland. It contains breeding populations of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua), Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris), king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) and western rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome
chrysocome). The fungal communities of these sites were investigated using a fungal metabarcode approach. We found these sites contain a large spatial heterogeneity, with communities that are dominated by saprotrophic fungi. However, we noticed that the most abundant species tended to be known mycoparasites. We hypothesise the fungal communities in system undergo a ‘boom-bust’ cycle of varying alpha diversity which is dependent upon the breeding populations and driven by highly competitive mycoparasitic fungi.
due to the development of high-throughput sequencing, which allow for complex fungal communities to be described with techniques such as metabarcoding. The Falkland Islands contain large populations of breeding
seabirds; one such internationally recognised area is Saunders Island, located off the coast of the West Falkland. It contains breeding populations of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua), Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris), king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) and western rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome
chrysocome). The fungal communities of these sites were investigated using a fungal metabarcode approach. We found these sites contain a large spatial heterogeneity, with communities that are dominated by saprotrophic fungi. However, we noticed that the most abundant species tended to be known mycoparasites. We hypothesise the fungal communities in system undergo a ‘boom-bust’ cycle of varying alpha diversity which is dependent upon the breeding populations and driven by highly competitive mycoparasitic fungi.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 99-108 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Fungal Ecology |
| Volume | 36 |
| Early online date | 6 Oct 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Our work is supported by the BBSRC (BB/M010996/1, BB/N005058/1, BB/P020224/1) (JH, PvW), NERC (NE/P007570/1) (PvW), The South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) (JH) and the University of Aberdeen (PvW). We would like to thank the Pole-Evans family for giving us permission to sample on their land.Keywords
- Metabarcoding
- Falkland Islands
- Seabirds
- Fungi
- High-throughput sequencing
- community ecology