TY - JOUR
T1 - Wild boars as spore dispersal agents of ectomycorrhizal fungi
T2 - consequences for community composition at different habitat types
AU - Livne-Luzon, Stav
AU - Avidan, Yael
AU - Weber, Gil
AU - Migael, Hen
AU - Bruns, Thomas
AU - Ovadia, Ofer
AU - Shemesh, Hagai
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF Grant 2012081). We would like to thank Sydney Glassman for providing the pipeline scripts and guiding us through the conceptual and methodological aspects related to the bioinformatics work and analyses. We also would like to thank Tal Shay and Hadas Ner-Gaon for providing technical support required to install software and packages on the computer cluster and for their help in debugging the pipeline scripts. We also wish to thank Judy Chung and Constantine Klimovitz for their technical help with the plant harvesting and setting up the sequencing library.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - The success of dispersal events depend on the organism’s ability to reach and establish in a new habitat. In symbiotic organisms, establishment also depends on the presence of their symbiont partner in the new habitat. For instance, the establishment of obligate ectomycorrhizal (EM) trees outside the forest is largely limited by the presence of EM fungi in soil. Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are important dispersal agents of EM fungal spores, particularly in the moderately dry Mediterranean region. The aim of this study was to explore how EM fungal spores dispersed by wild boars influence the EM fungal community associated with the roots of Pinus halepensis seedlings at different habitat types. Using a greenhouse bioassay, we grew pine seedlings in two soil types: old-field and forest soils mixed with either natural or autoclaved wild boar feces. In both soils, we observed a community dominated by a few EM fungal species. Geopora (85 %) and Suillus (68 %) species dominated the forest and old-field soils, respectively. The addition of natural wild boar feces increased the abundance of Tuber species in both EM fungal communities. However, this effect was more pronounced in pots with old-field soil, leading to a more even community, equally dominated by both Tuber and Suillus species. In forest soil, Geopora maintained dominance, but decreased in abundance (67 %), due to the addition of Tuber species. Our findings indicate that wild boar feces can be an important source for EM inoculum, especially in habitats poor in EM fungi such as old-fields.
AB - The success of dispersal events depend on the organism’s ability to reach and establish in a new habitat. In symbiotic organisms, establishment also depends on the presence of their symbiont partner in the new habitat. For instance, the establishment of obligate ectomycorrhizal (EM) trees outside the forest is largely limited by the presence of EM fungi in soil. Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are important dispersal agents of EM fungal spores, particularly in the moderately dry Mediterranean region. The aim of this study was to explore how EM fungal spores dispersed by wild boars influence the EM fungal community associated with the roots of Pinus halepensis seedlings at different habitat types. Using a greenhouse bioassay, we grew pine seedlings in two soil types: old-field and forest soils mixed with either natural or autoclaved wild boar feces. In both soils, we observed a community dominated by a few EM fungal species. Geopora (85 %) and Suillus (68 %) species dominated the forest and old-field soils, respectively. The addition of natural wild boar feces increased the abundance of Tuber species in both EM fungal communities. However, this effect was more pronounced in pots with old-field soil, leading to a more even community, equally dominated by both Tuber and Suillus species. In forest soil, Geopora maintained dominance, but decreased in abundance (67 %), due to the addition of Tuber species. Our findings indicate that wild boar feces can be an important source for EM inoculum, especially in habitats poor in EM fungi such as old-fields.
KW - Beta diversity
KW - Dispersal
KW - Ectomycorrhiza
KW - Spore
KW - Sus scrofa
KW - Tuber
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992437460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00572-016-0737-9
DO - 10.1007/s00572-016-0737-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 27783205
AN - SCOPUS:84992437460
SN - 0940-6360
VL - 27
SP - 165
EP - 174
JO - Mycorrhiza
JF - Mycorrhiza
IS - 3
ER -