Fungal community diversity in soils along an elevation gradient in a Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata forest in Qinling Mountains, China

Abstract

Soil fungi are important in nutrient cycling and soil carbon storage in forest ecosystems. Although many factors affect fungal community structure, there are few studies on the effects of elevation on fungal communities in forests. In this study, we investigated the diversity of soil fungal communities using high-throughput sequencing method according to elevations (1500 to 1900 m a.s.l.) in a Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata forest, a typical subtropical forest type on the south slope of Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi Province, China. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and pH increased and available phosphorus (AP) decreased significantly according to elevation, whereas other soil factors were not significantly affected. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant phyla of forest soils in Huodingtang forest area. The operational taxonomic units (OTUs), the abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) richness index, and the Shannon diversity index of the fungal communities decreased significantly with elevation. Significant and negative Pearson correlations were identified between NMDS 1 (r = −0.480, p < 0.05), OTUs (r = −0.513, p < 0.05), and ACE (r = −0.415, p < 0.05) and Shannon indices (r = −0.528, p < 0.05) and soil pH, indicating that pH is a significant factor on fungal community diversity. According to redundancy analysis, soil factors explained 45.8% of the total variation in fungal community structure at the phylum level, 37.48% at the class level, and 47.11% at the genus level. Soil pH, SOC, soil moisture and AP were the significant factors affecting the fungal community. Overall, the changes in soil factors with elevation are important in shaping the diversity of soil fungal communities in a Q. aliena var. acuteserrata forest in Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi Province, China.