Laboratory conditions can change the complexity and composition of the natural aquatic mycobiome on Alnus glutinosa leaf litter

Carl, S. C., Gergs, R., Sahm, R., & Mohr, S. (2022). Laboratory conditions can change the complexity and composition of the natural aquatic mycobiome on Alnus glutinosa leaf litter. Fungal ecology, 57-58 (2022), Heft 101142. https://doi.org/10.60810/openumwelt-166

Abstract english

Community structure is of major interest when aquatic fungi are studied, particularly in leaf decomposition experiments. Although such studies are often conducted as laboratory experiments with microbial communities taken from the field, it remains unclear to what extent natural fungal communities can be sustained under experimental conditions. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding to investigate the development of fungal communities on alder leaves both under laboratory and field conditions. Five leaf conditioning treatments were compared by colonizing leaves in a stream, exposing stream colonized leaves to a defined medium or filtered stream water and using stream colonized leaves to inoculate sterile leaves in the defined medium or stream water. Fewer species were found on leaves that were inoculated under laboratory conditions, whereas differences in fungal community composition were comparably low in the other treatments, irrespective of the chosen medium. Possible shifts in fungal communities should therefore be considered in laboratory experiments. © 2021 The Authors