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Abstract
Belowground litter derived from tree roots has been shown as a principal source of soil organic matter in coniferous forests. Fate of tree root necromass depends on fungal communities developing on the decaying roots. Local environmental conditions which affect composition of tree root mycobiome may also influence fungal communities developing on decaying tree roots. Here, we assessed fungal communities associated with decaying roots of Picea abies decomposing in three microhabitats: soil with no vegetation, soil with ericoid shrubs cover, and P. abies deadwood, for a 2-year period. Forest microhabitat showed stronger effect on structuring fungal communities associated with decaying roots compared to living roots. Some ericoid mycorrhizal fungi showed higher relative abundance on decaying roots in soils under ericoid shrub cover, while saprotrophic fungi had higher relative abundance in roots decomposing inside deadwood. Regardless of the studied microhabitat, we observed decline of ectomycorrhizal fungi and increase of endophytic fungi during root decomposition. Interestingly, we found substantially more fungal taxa with unknown ecology in late stages of root decomposition, indicating that highly decomposed roots may represent so far overlooked niche for soil fungi. Our study shows the importance of microhabitats on the fate of the decomposing spruce roots.
Highlights
Soil organic matter (SOM) represents an important pool of carbon and nutrients
We observed significant increase in cellulose and lignin concentrations in decomposing spruce roots 4 months after the decapitation in all studied microhabitats
While cellulose concentration remained unchanged after the first significant increase, the lignin concentration in decomposing roots was gradually increasing during the whole experiment (Figure 1)
Summary
Soil organic matter (SOM) represents an important pool of carbon and nutrients. SOM is created during accumulation and decomposition of wood and leaf litter on the soil surface and root litter within soil, as well as during translocation of currently photosynthesized organic compounds belowground by living plants (Litton et al, 2007). Large part of the belowground translocated carbon (C) enables to establish and maintain the root microbiome, which largely affects the physiology of the host plant. Some EcMF take part in the oxidative decomposition of SOM such as the humic acids, which leads to mobilization of organic N and makes organic matter available for further degradation by other saprotrophic microorganisms (Lindahl and Tunlid, 2015; Shah et al, 2016)
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