Visualization of soil microbiological processes using a light microscope. Part 2. Observing the fungi participation in the formation of new soil organic matter

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe how the initial stage of soil organic matter formation with the participation of fungi looks like in microbial landscapes. Location and time of the study. The studies were carried out in 2018-2021. The objects of study: 1) leached chernozem (Luvic Chernozem), the forest-steppe of the Ob region (54°53'13.5" N and 82°59'36.7" E); 2) agro gray soil (Luvic Greyzemic Phaeozem) under perennial culture of Miscunthus sacchariflorus, the forest-steppe of the Ob region (54°53'13,5" N and 82°59'36,7" E); 3) a complex of permafrost alas soils (Cryosols) of varying degrees of pasture digression, Lena-Amga interfluve (62°33'24.3" N and 130°54'01.4" E); 4) cryogenic meadow-chernozem (Cryosol) soils on the high terrace of the Lena River near the city of Yakutsk (62°08'51" N, 129°45'45" E); and 5) Young soils on dumps after gold and tin mining in polar Yakutia (69°18'02,61'' N, 139°55'35,89'' E). Methodology. The duration of glass slide exposure in field conditions ranged from a growing season to a year. To monitor the formation of new soil organic matter, glass slides were exposed for a year in moist soil samples at a constant temperature of +2oC. After exposure, the glass slides were dried, fixed, stained with carbolic erythrosine (5%), and examined microscopically at magnification of x40-x1000. We studied 50 fields of vision on one glass slide (3 slides on each variant). The snapshots were taken using Primo Star Zeiss microscope with an Axiocam105 color video camera. Results. Visually, the formation of a new soil organic matter consists of the following stages: development of a fungal hyphae, accumulation of mineral particles in the space around hyphae, braiding of mineral particles with hyphae, formation of fungal fruiting bodies (basidiomata) and formation of globules, consisting of mineral particles, plant residues and fungal fruiting bodies of varying degrees of bacterial processing braided with hyphae of fungi. Conclusions, The study presents one of the possible ways of new organic matter formation in the soils of technogenic landscapes of polar Yakutia. It was shown that young organic matter in these soils consists of the aggregation of fungal fruiting bodies at different stages of bacterial processing.