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Realized Fungal Diversity Increases Functional Stability of Leaf Litter Decomposition Under Zinc Stress

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Freshwaters include some of the most impaired systems on Earth with high rates of species loss, underscoring the significance of investigating whether ecosystems with fewer species will be able to maintain ecological processes. The environmental context is expected to modulate the effects of declining diversity. We conducted microcosm experiments manipulating fungal inoculum diversity and zinc concentration to test the hypothesis that fungal diversity determines the susceptibility of leaf litter decomposition to Zn stress. Realized fungal diversity was estimated by counting released spores and by measuring species-specific biomasses via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. In the absence of Zn, positive diversity effects were found for leaf mass loss and fungal biomass through complementary interactions and due to the presence of key species. The variability of leaf decomposition decreased with increasing species number (portfolio effect), particularly under Zn stress. Results suggest that the effect of species loss on ecosystem stability may be exacerbated at higher stress levels.

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Acknowledgments

Traveling expenses were supported by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (F. Cássio) and FCT-POCTI/34024/BSE/2000 (C. Pascoal). The research has been supported by an NSERC Discovery grant to F. Bärlocher. The authors are grateful to the reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CBMA, Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Cláudia Pascoal & Fernanda Cássio

  2. Department of Biology, Mount Allison University, 63B York Street, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 1G7

    Liliya Nikolcheva & Felix Bärlocher

Authors
  1. Cláudia Pascoal
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  2. Fernanda Cássio
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  3. Liliya Nikolcheva
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  4. Felix Bärlocher
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Correspondence to Fernanda Cássio.

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Cláudia Pascoal and Fernanda Cássio contributed equally to this work.

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Pascoal, C., Cássio, F., Nikolcheva, L. et al. Realized Fungal Diversity Increases Functional Stability of Leaf Litter Decomposition Under Zinc Stress. Microb Ecol 59, 84–93 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-009-9567-z

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