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Ecology and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi
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Special Issue "Ecology and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi"

A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2023 | Viewed by 2063

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Federico Baltar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Functional & Evolutionary Ecology, Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria
Interests: marine microbial ecology; biological oceanography; fungal oceanography; marine biogeochemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine microbes play a central role in the regulation of energy and matter in the ocean. However, our knowledge of the role and ecology of different microbial groups is not balanced, and for instance, most of the research has focused on bacteria, archaea and phytoplankton, while fungal oceanography is still in its infancy. This is mainly due to the wide assumption that fungi are either non-present, inactive and/or outcompeted by prokaryotes when living in a resource-limited liquid environment like the ocean. However, recent studies are revealing a different picture, where marine fungi are widespread in the oceans and actively contributing to the elemental cycles via a diverse repertoire of enzymes. More information is required to unravel the ecological role of fungi in the marine environment. The aim of this Special Issue is to focus on the ecology and molecular diversity of marine fungi. Topics include, but are not limited to, fungal abundance, distribution, activity, phylogenetic and/or functional diversity in coastal to open ocean environments, including seawater column and sediments, derived both from laboratory and field studies. Manuscripts summarizing recent advances in the topic or introducing novel experimental approaches are also welcome.

Dr. Federico Baltar
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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. Journal of Fungi 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 2200 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

  • marine fungi
  • coastal waters
  • open ocean water column
  • marine sediment
  • fungal abundance
  • fungal physiology
  • fungal activity
  • fungal genetics
  • fungal phylogenetic diversity
  • fungal functional diversity

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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Communication
Fungal Diversity and Community Composition across Ecosystems
by
Pavla Debeljak
and
Federico Baltar
J. Fungi 2023, 9(5), 510; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9050510 - 25 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 457
Abstract
Fungi have shaped the biosphere since the development of life on Earth. Despite fungi being present in all environments, most of the available fungal research has focused on soils. As a result, the role and composition of fungal communities in aquatic (marine and [...] Read more.
Fungi have shaped the biosphere since the development of life on Earth. Despite fungi being present in all environments, most of the available fungal research has focused on soils. As a result, the role and composition of fungal communities in aquatic (marine and freshwater) environments remain largely unexplored. The use of different primers to characterise fungal communities has additionally complicated intercomparisons among studies. Consequently, we lack a basic global assessment of fungal diversity across major ecosystems. Here, we took advantage of a recently published 18S rRNA dataset comprising samples from major ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine) to attempt a global assessment of fungal diversity and community composition. We found the highest fungal diversities for terrestrial > freshwater > marine environments, and pronounced gradients of fungal diversity along temperature, salinity, and latitude in all ecosystems. We also identified the most abundant taxa in each of these ecosystems, mostly dominated by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, except in freshwater rivers where Chytridiomycota dominated. Collectively, our analysis provides a global analysis of fungal diversity across all major environmental ecosystems, highlighting the most distinct order and ASVs (amplicon sequencing variants) by ecosystem, and thus filling a critical gap in the study of the Earth’s mycobiome. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi)
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Article
Physiological Properties of Three Pelagic Fungi Isolated from the Atlantic Ocean
by
Eva Breyer
,
Salvador Espada-Hinojosa
,
Magdalena Reitbauer
,
Samantha C. Karunarathna
and
Federico Baltar
J. Fungi 2023, 9(4), 439; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9040439 - 04 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 705
Abstract
Oceanic fungi are widely understudied compared to their terrestrial counterparts. However, they have been shown to be important degraders of organic matter in the global pelagic oceans. By examining the physiological characteristics of fungi isolated from the pelagic waters of the ocean it [...] Read more.
Oceanic fungi are widely understudied compared to their terrestrial counterparts. However, they have been shown to be important degraders of organic matter in the global pelagic oceans. By examining the physiological characteristics of fungi isolated from the pelagic waters of the ocean it is possible to infer specific functions of each species in the biogeochemical processes that occur in the marine ecosystem. In this study, we isolated three pelagic fungi from different stations and depths across a transect in the Atlantic Ocean. We identified two yeasts [(Scheffersomyces spartinae (Debaryomycetaceae, Saccharomycetes, Ascomycota) and Rhodotorula sphaerocarpa (Sporidiobolaceae, Microbotryomycetes, Basidiomycota)], and the hyphae-morphotype fungus Sarocladium kiliense (Hypocreales, Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota), and conducted physiological experiments to investigate their preferred carbon uptake as well as their growth patterns under different environmental conditions. Despite their taxonomic and morphological differences, all species exhibited a high tolerance towards a wide range of salinities (0–40 g/L) and temperatures (5–35 °C). Furthermore, a shared metabolic preference for oxidizing amino acids was found among all fungal isolates. Collectively, this study provides relevant information on the physiological properties of oceanic pelagic fungi, revealing a high tolerance towards salinity and temperature changes, ultimately contributing to understanding their ecology and distribution in the oceanic water column. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi)
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Article
Respiration, Production, and Growth Efficiency of Marine Pelagic Fungal Isolates
by
Marilena Heitger
and
Federico Baltar
J. Fungi 2023, 9(4), 417; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9040417 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 556
Abstract
Despite recent studies suggesting that marine fungi are ubiquitous in oceanic systems and involved in organic matter degradation, their role in the carbon cycle of the oceans is still not characterized and fungal respiration and production are understudied. This study focused on determining [...] Read more.
Despite recent studies suggesting that marine fungi are ubiquitous in oceanic systems and involved in organic matter degradation, their role in the carbon cycle of the oceans is still not characterized and fungal respiration and production are understudied. This study focused on determining fungal growth efficiencies and its susceptibility to temperature differences and nutrient concentration. Hence, respiration and biomass production of three fungal isolates (Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Rhodotorula sphaerocarpa, Sakaguchia dacryoidea) were measured in laboratory experiments at two temperatures and two nutrient concentrations. We found that fungal respiration and production rates differed among species, temperature, and nutrient concentration. Fungal respiration and production were higher at higher temperatures, but higher fungal growth efficiencies were observed at lower temperatures. Nutrient concentration affected fungal respiration, production, and growth efficiency, but its influence differed among species. Altogether, this study provides the first growth efficiency estimates of pelagic fungi, providing novel insights into the role of fungi as source/sink of carbon during organic matter remineralization. Further research is now needed to unravel the role of pelagic fungi in the marine carbon cycle, a topic that gains even more importance in times of increasing CO2 concentrations and global warming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi)
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