title: Spatial Distribution of Fungal Communities in an Arable Soil.
abstract: Fungi are prominent drivers of ecological processes in soils, so that fungal communities across different soil ecosystems have been well investigated. However, for arable soils taxonomically resolved fine-scale studies including vertical itemization of fungal communities are still missing. Here, we combined a cloning/Sanger sequencing approach of the ITS/LSU region as marker for general fungi and of the partial SSU region for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to characterize the microbiome in different maize soil habitats. Four compartments were analyzed over two annual cycles 2009 and 2010: a) ploughed soil in 0-10 cm, b) rooted soil in 40-50 cm, c) root-free soil in 60-70 cm soil depth and d) maize roots. Ascomycota was the most dominant phylum across all compartments. Fungal communities including yeasts and AMF differed strongly between compartments. Inter alia, Tetracladium, the overall largest MOTU (molecular operational taxonomic unit), occurred in all compartments, whereas Trichosporon dominated all soil compartments. Sequences belonging to unclassified Helotiales were forming the most abundant MOTUs exclusively present in roots. This study gives new insights on spatial distribution of fungi and helps to link fungal communities to specific ecological properties such as varying resources, which characterize particular niches of the heterogeneous soil environment.
authors: UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Moll
authors: UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors: Björn
authors: B
authors: Hoppe
authors: Julius Kühn-Institute - Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI) Institute for National and International Plant Health, Messeweg 11/12, 38104 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors: Stephan
authors: S
authors: König
authors: UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Tesfaye
authors: T
authors: Wubet
authors: UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.|Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Buscot
authors: UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Soil Ecology, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors: Dirk
authors: D
authors: Krüger
mesh_terms: D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000502:physiology*; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil