Characterization of active and total fungal communities in the atmosphere over the Amazon rainforest

Womack, A.M., Artaxo, P.E., Ishida, F.Y., Mueller, R.C., Saleska , S.R., Wiedemann, K.T., Bohannan, B.J.M., and Green, J.L (2015) Characterization of active and total fungal communities in the atmosphere over the Amazon rainforest. Biogeosciences, 12. pp. 6337-6349.

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Abstract

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 5 found in terrestrial environments. We characterized the total fungal community and the metabolically active portion of the community using high-throughout 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 10 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, 15 fungal communities in the atmosphere were most similar to communities found in tropical soils and leaf surfaces, suggesting that inputs of fungi to the atmosphere are from local, rather than distant, sources. 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, 20 may be abundant members of active atmospheric fungal communities over the forest canopy.

Item ID: 39288
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1726-4189
Additional Information:

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Earlier version published in: Womack, A.M., Artaxo, P.E., Ishida, F.Y., Mueller, R.C., Saleska , S.R., Wiedemann, K.T., Bohannan, B.J.M., and Green, J.L (2015) Characterization of active and total fungal communities in the atmosphere over the Amazon rainforest. Biogeosciences Discussions, 12 (10). pp. 7177-7207. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bgd-12-7177-2015

Funders: University of Oregon, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Date Deposited: 25 Jun 2015 03:20
FoR Codes: 03 CHEMICAL SCIENCES > 0305 Organic Chemistry > 030502 Natural Products Chemistry @ 20%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050101 Ecological Impacts of Climate Change @ 35%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0605 Microbiology > 060505 Mycology @ 45%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9601 Air Quality > 960199 Air Quality not elsewhere classified @ 30%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9602 Atmosphere and Weather > 960202 Atmospheric Processes and Dynamics @ 40%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960806 Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 30%
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