The biogeography of soil and airborne fungi in the Southwestern USA in relation to climate and vegetation

TL;DR

This study explores how climate and geography affect the distribution of fungi in soil and air in the Southwestern USA.

Contribution

The study reveals that soil fungi show dispersal limitations at short distances, while airborne fungi do not.

Findings

Fungal communities in soil and air are spatially autocorrelated.

Precipitation and soil moisture strongly influence soil fungal composition.

Airborne fungi show no dispersal limitations at any distance.

Abstract

To assess how fungal dispersal might respond to climate change, we examined how climate and geography influence the regional distribution of fungi in soil and air. Specifically, we hypothesized that neighboring fungal communities should be more similar than distant communities (i.e. spatially autocorrelated) and that fungal dispersal should be more limited in soil than in air. We collected soil and air samples from 60 sites across five states in the Southwestern USA. Then, we sequenced the ITS2 region to identify fungal taxa in each sample. Next, we used distance-based redundancy analysis to partition variation in fungal community composition between climate variables and spatial structure. Fungi were indeed spatially autocorrelated. Moreover, precipitation, maximum vapor pressure deficit, and soil moisture were significantly related to fungal community composition in soils. In comparison, only precipitation was significantly related to community composition in the air. After accounting for climate, the strength of spatial autocorrelation did not differ significantly in soilborne versus airborne fungi. Dispersal limitation was evident in soilborne fungi at short distances (<100 km) and was not observed at any distance in airborne fungi. Altogether, climate may influence which fungal taxa are present in soil and air, and fungi could feasibly wind disperse over regional scales.

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