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Special Issue "Biodiversity and Ecology of Soil Fungal Communities"

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Dear Colleagues,

Soil is one of the principal substrata of life on Earth and an important participant in the cycling of carbon and other elements in the planet. It plays vital roles in both global ecosystems and human societies. Soil microorganisms have kinds of ecological functions and shape global element cycles in life and death. They are a major engine of terrestrial biogeochemistry, driving the turnover of soil organic matter, the Earth’s largest terrestrial carbon pool.

More and more fungal species have been discovered and described from soil, and further studies for different purposes in biology and the other related disciplines are required. Nevertheless, the biodiversity of fungal species in soil is still badly underestimated and the ecological functions of them are not fully recognized.

This Special Issue will focus on biodiversity, new species/taxon of fungal species, and their ecological functions in soil communities. This Special Issue is also an exciting opportunity to combine and synthesize all knowledge that is being generated in these fields. Therefore, Diversity’s team kindly invites you to submit a manuscript on any of the above topics, as well as those addressing broader implications.

Dr. Xin-Cun Wang
Guest Editor

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

fungal diversity
new species
new taxon
ecological function
soil community

Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 2504 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Addition of a High Concentration of Phosphorus Reduces the Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Temperate Agroecosystems

and

Diversity 2023, 15(10), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15101045 - 28 Sep 2023

Viewed by 377

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient crucial for both plant growth and crop production, playing a pivotal role in agriculture since the early 20th century. The symbiotic relationship between AMF and plants serves as a classic illustration. These fungi play a regulatory role in the growth and development of plants, especially in facilitating the absorption of P and carbon molecules by plants. While there has been a growing body of research on the community assembly of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in recent decades, our knowledge of the processes governing the coexistence of these AMF communities influenced by P in agroecosystems remains limited. To investigate the impact of various P fertilizers on AMF communities in temperate agroecosystems, this study was conducted using soils sourced from wheat–maize rotation farmland at Henan Agricultural University Yuanyang Base. With the Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technique, we systematically examined the taxonomic composition of soil AMF at the Yuanyang Base of Henan Agricultural University in a wheat–maize rotation agricultural field. Our primary objective was to unravel the mechanisms behind AMF community assembly and stability under varying P gradient fertilization conditions. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis revealed significant differences among AMF communities in field soil subjected to various treatments (p < 0.05). A torus translations test demonstrated positive associations with the three treatments in 36 out of the 51 examined AMF operational taxonomic units (OTUs), making up 70.59% (p < 0.05) of the results. Furthermore, 37.84% (14/37) of the OTUs displayed preferences for the low P concentration treatment, while 34.29% (12/35) and 32.26% (10/31) favored medium and high P concentrations, respectively. An analysis of the Normalized Stochasticity Ratio (NST) and Checkerboard Score (C-score) indicated that in temperate agroecosystems, deterministic processes predominantly governed AMF in all treatment groups, with high P conditions exerting a stronger influence than low or medium P conditions. This study underscores the profound impact of long-term P fertilizer application on AMF community structures within temperate agricultural systems employing wheat–maize rotation. Additionally, it highlights the dominant role played by deterministic processes in shaping the assembly of AMF communities in these temperate agricultural systems that use P fertilizers. These findings emphasize the need for balanced nutrient management, particularly concerning P, to ensure the stability of AMF communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Ecology of Soil Fungal Communities)

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16 pages, 2749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Yeast Diversity Associated to Postharvest Fermentation Process of Coffee Fruits in Southern Ecuador

David Apolo

José Miguel Fernández

and

Diversity 2023, 15(9), 984; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15090984 - 31 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 579

Abstract

Coffee (Coffea arabica), produced and marketed in Ecuador and worldwide, can be organoleptically improved by means of microorganisms such as well-characterized yeasts. This study aimed to isolate and characterize yeasts from three postharvest fermentation processes (i.e., Natural aerobic at room temperature; Carbonic maceration with a CO₂ atmosphere at room temperature; and Carbonic refrigerated maceration with a CO₂ atmosphere to 10 °C) of coffee fruits in Ecuador. Phenotypic and molecular analyses were conducted on 329 yeast isolates obtained from coffee farms in Loja, Olmedo, and Gonzanamá. Three universal media were used for yeast isolation diversity, and phenotypic characterization included morphology, sugar fermentation, salt tolerance, and ethanol resistance. Molecular characterization involved DNA analysis. The isolated diversity was classified into 12 morphotypes, nine distinct biochemical groups and nine genetic species. Only six species (i.e., Kurtzmaniella quercitrusa, Hanseniaspora opuntiae, Pichia. kluyveri, Torulaspora delbrueckii, T. quercuum, and Wickerhamomyces anomalus) identified phylogenetically corresponded to the designated morphotypes. But surprisingly, nine genetic species matched with the nine biochemical groups determined phenotypically analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). Most of this diversity was found in the coffee plantation located in Gonzanamá, in contrast to Olmedo and Loja, without statistical significance (p value: 0.08295). On the other hand, the richness is not similar statistically (p value: 0.02991) between postharvest fermentation treatments. The findings suggest that the application of biochemical tests is useful for species determination, although morphological data may be ambiguous. Notably, Pichia kluyveri, detected in this study, holds potential for biotechnological evaluation in coffee fermentation processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Ecology of Soil Fungal Communities)

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Special Issue "Biodiversity and Ecology of Soil Fungal Communities"

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