PRJNA387597
Inventory of chytrid diversity in two temporary forest ponds using a multiphasic approach
Temporary forest pond food webs are driven by the decomposition of terrestrial inputs. In streams reliant on terrestrial inputs, chytrid fungi have been shown to be important components of the fungal community degrading leaf litter. In lake ecosystems, it has been shown that chytrid fungi may stabilize the food web. However, little is known about chytrid fungi in temporary forest ponds. This study inventories the chytrid diversity present in two temporary forest ponds using light microscopy of baited samples and ion semiconductor (Ion Torrent) sequencing of environmental DNA. It also describes some of the temporal and spatial distributions of chytrid taxa. A total of 63 chytrid taxa were detected. However, there was little overlap in the taxa observed between the two analytical methods, which highlighs the need for multiphasic approaches in studying chytrid diversity. Contrary to expectations, chytrid taxa were not more frequent at the edge of the ponds or followed the same seasonal increases and decreases in frequency. Instead, each chytrid taxon had different temporal and spatial dynamics, which highlights the need for future studies into the temporal and spatial distribution of chytrids.