Climatic shifts threaten alpine mycorrhizal communities above the treeline
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The European Alps are experiencing more than twice the increase in air temperature observed in the rest of the world. Thus, the treeline ecotone, and the unique habitats above it, offer a preview of drastic changes in plant and animal communities. However, our knowledge about climate change impacts on microbial diversity belowground is scarce. Here we investigate how upslope shift of the treeline ecotone, associated with changes in soil nutrient content, temperature and precipitation, will influence alpine ectomycorrhizal (EM) communities of Dryas octopetala, Bistorta vivipara and Salix herbacea across different habitat types in the Alps. We also assessed the degree of EM community taxonomic composition turnover in these habitats across three different climatic projections for 2040 and 2070. Our results indicate that the specialized EM fungal communities from snowbed habitats will be mostly negatively influenced under the current trajectory of environmental shifting predicted for the region. In contrast, fungi from the treeline ecotone, having wider niches, will be positively influenced by future climate and extend upwards. In addition, our predictions of EM community turnover for putative future climatic scenarios revealed high rates of turnover across the entire alpine region. This, together with glacier retreats, will aid colonization of alpine snowbed habitats by new EM plants and associated fungi, bringing additional pressures on local mycorrhizas and likely leading to fungal species extinctions.
Date Issued
2024-02-01
Date Acceptance
2023-10-11
Citation
Fungal Ecology, 2024, 67
ISSN
1754-5048
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Fungal Ecology
Volume
67
Copyright Statement
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd and British Mycological Society. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Alpine ecosystems
ALPS
BIODIVERSITY
Bistorta vivipara
Climate change
DIVERSITY
Dryas octopetala
Ecology
Ecotone
Ectomycorrhizal fungi
ECTOMYCORRHIZAL FUNGI
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Environmental thresholds
IMPACTS
Indicators
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Mycology
PATTERNS
PLANT
Precipitation
Salix herbacea
Science & Technology
SERIES
Snowbeds
SUCCESSION
Temperature
Treeline
VEGETATION
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
101300
Date Publish Online
2023-11-17