Abstract

Soil fungi are a key constituent of global biodiversity and play a pivotal role in agroecosystems. How arable farming affects soil fungal biogeography and whether it has a disproportional impact on rare taxa is poorly understood. Here, we used the high-resolution PacBio Sequel targeting the entire ITS region to investigate the distribution of soil fungi in 217 sites across a 3000 km gradient in Europe. We found a consistently lower diversity of fungi in arable lands than grasslands, with geographic locations significantly impacting fungal community structures. Prevalent fungal groups became even more abundant, whereas rare groups became fewer or absent in arable lands, suggesting a biotic homogenization due to arable farming. The rare fungal groups were narrowly distributed and more common in grasslands. Our findings suggest that rare soil fungi are disproportionally affected by arable farming, and sustainable farming practices should protect rare taxa and the ecosystem services they support.How arable farming affects soil fungal biogeography is poorly understood. Here, the authors find that prevalent fungal groups become more abundant, whereas rare groups become fewer or absent in arable lands across Europe, suggesting a biotic homogenization due to arable farming.

Published in

Nature Communications
2024, Volume: 15, number: 1, article number: 327
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

• Hallin, Sara

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Soil Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44073-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/128166