Prairie soil fungi, preindustrial-to-future CO2 gradient, Targeted Locus (Loci)
Soils sequester and release substantial atmospheric carbon, but the biological responses of soils to rising CO2 are not well understood. Studying fungal community responses to past and future CO2 concentrations should provide insights into how soils affect the path of rising atmospheric CO2. We studied fungal communities in a grassland ecosystem exposed to a preindustrial-to-future CO2 gradient (250-500 ppm) on two soil types, a black clay and a sandy loam. The data uploaded are from 454 pyrosequencing of ITS-1 region rDNA, obtained from soil samples. The project is a collaboration between Duke University and the USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, TX.