Search

Despite the importance of wood-inhabiting fungi on nutrient cycling and ecosystem functions, their ecology, especially related to their community assembly, is still highly unexplored. In this study, we analyzed the wood-inhabiting fungal richness, community composition, and phylogenetics using PacBio sequencing. Opposite to what has been expected that deterministic processes especially environmental filtering through wood-physicochemical properties controls the community assembly of wood-inhabiting fungal communities, here we showed that both deterministic and stochastic processes can highly contribute to the community assembly processes of wood-inhabiting fungi in this tropical forest. We demonstrated that the dynamics of stochastic and deterministic processes varied with wood decomposition stages. The initial stage was mainly governed by a deterministic process (homogenous selection), whereas the early and later decomposition stages were governed by the stochastic processes (ecological drift). Deterministic processes were highly contributed by wood physicochemical properties (especially macronutrients and hemicellulose) rather than soil physicochemical factors. We elucidated that fine-scale fungal-fungal interactions, especially the network topology, modularity, and keystone taxa of wood-inhabiting fungal communities, strongly differed in an initial and decomposing deadwood. This current study contributes to a better understanding of the ecological processes of wood-inhabiting fungi in tropical regions where the knowledge of wood-inhabiting fungi is highly limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a new annotation tool "FungalTraits" was created based on the previous FUNGuild and FunFun databases, which has attracted high attention in the scientific community. These databases were widely used to gain more information from fungal sequencing datasets by assigning fungal functional traits. More than 1500 publications so far employed FUNGuild and the aim of this study is to compare this successful database with the recent FungalTraits database. Quality and quantity of the assignment by FUNGuild and FungalTraits to a fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS)–based amplicon sequencing dataset on amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were addressed. Sequencing dataset was derived from leaves and needles of 12 temperate broadleaved and coniferous tree species. We found that FungalTraits assigned more functional traits than FUNGuild, and especially the coverage of saprotrophs, plant pathogens, and endophytes was higher while lichenized fungi revealed similar findings. Moreover, ASVs derived from leaves and needles of each tree species were better assigned to all available fungal traits as well as to saprotrophs by FungalTraits compared to FUNGuild in particular for broadleaved tree species. Assigned ASV richness as well as fungal functional community composition was higher and more diverse after analyses with FungalTraits compared to FUNGuild. Moreover, datasets of both databases showed similar effect of environmental factors for saprotrophs but for endophytes, unidentical patterns of significant corresponding factors were obtained. As a conclusion, FungalTraits is superior to FUNGuild in assigning a higher quantity and quality of ASVs as well as a higher frequency of significant correlations with environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-based and biodegradable plastics such as mulching films are widely used in agricultural field sites. However, there are limited studies of their impact on plant development and health even though an important soil-borne plant pathogen F. solani has been reported to associate with various types of bio-based and biodegradable plastics, especially polybutylene succinate-co-adipate (PBSA). To evaluate the influence of PBSA amendment in soils on plant development and health, F. solani and mung bean (V. radiata) were used as models in a modified petri-dish test using soil suspensions. Mung bean seeds were incubated in suspensions with two dilutions (high vs. low dilution with low vs. high PBSA amendment) of soils pre-incubated 1 year with PBSA under different treatments (combinations of N fertilizer (ammonium sulfate) and PBSA load) in the modified petri dish test. Plant development and disease incidence were recorded with both microscopic and molecular techniques (specific PCR and Illumina amplicon sequencing). Treatment with PBSA and N fertilizer in non-sterile soil suspensions strongly increased the disease caused by F. solani on V. radiata at both low and high soil dilution. At high soil dilution, the F. solani disease incident was 67.5% while at the low dilution the disease incidence reached 92.5%. In contrast, in treatments PBSA but without N fertilizer, non F. solani disease was observed. Apart from F. solani infection, other soil fungi can also infect the mung bean seedlings, especially at low soil dilution levels. Nevertheless, based on this short-term study, we found no evidence that PBSA alone can significantly increase the overall disease incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though it is widely acknowledged that litter decomposition can be impacted by climate change, the functional roles of microbes involved in the decomposition and their answer to climate change are less understood. This study used a field experimental facility settled in Central Germany to analyze the effects of ambient vs. future climate that is expected in 50–80 years on mass loss and physicochemical parameters of wheat litter in agricultural cropland at the early phase of litter decomposition process. Additionally, the effects of climate change were assessed on microbial richness, community compositions, interactions, and their functions (production of extracellular enzymes), as well as litter physicochemical factors shaping their colonization. The initial physicochemical properties of wheat litter did not change between both climate conditions; however, future climate significantly accelerated litter mass loss as compared with ambient one. Using MiSeq Illumina sequencing, we found that future climate significantly increased fungal richness and altered fungal communities over time, while bacterial communities were more resistant in wheat residues. Changes on fungal richness and/or community composition corresponded to different physicochemical factors of litter under ambient (Ca2+, and pH) and future (C/N, N, P, K+, Ca2+, pH, and moisture) climate conditions. Moreover, highly correlative interactions between richness of bacteria and fungi were detected under future climate. Furthermore, the co-occurrence networks patterns among dominant microorganisms inhabiting wheat residues were strongly distinct between future and ambient climates. Activities of microbial β-glucosidase and N-acetylglucosaminidase in wheat litter were increased over time. Such increased enzymatic activities were coupled with a significant positive correlation between microbial (both bacteria and fungi) richness and community compositions with these two enzymatic activities only under future climate. Overall, we provide evidence that future climate significantly impacted the early phase of wheat litter decomposition through direct effects on fungal communities and through indirect effects on microbial interactions as well as corresponding enzyme production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi are an essential component of the ecosystem. They play an integral role in the decomposition of leaf litter and return nutrients to the ecosystem through nutrient cycling. They are considered as the "key players" in leaf litter decomposition, because of their ability to produce a wide range of extracellular enzymes. Time-related changes of fungal communities during leaf litter decomposition have been relatively well-investigated. However, it has not been established how the tree species, tree phylogeny, and leaf litter chemistry influence fungal communities during decomposition. Using direct observations and a culturing approach, this study compiles fungi found in freshly collected leaf litter from five phylogenetically related, native tree species in Taiwan: Celtis formosana (CF), Ficus ampelas (FA), Ficus septica (FS), Macaranga tanarius (MT), and Morus australis (MA). We investigated (i) the effects of tree species (including tree phylogeny) and leaf litter chemistry on fungal community succession, and (ii) specific patterns of fungal succession (including diversity and taxonomic community assembly) on decomposing leaf litter across the selected tree species. We hypothesized that host species and leaf litter chemistry significantly affect fungal community succession. A total of 1325 leaves (CF: 275, FA: 275, FS: 275, MT: 275 and MA: 225) were collected and 236 fungal taxa were recorded (CF: 48, FA: 46, FS: 64, MT: 42 and MA: 36). Tree species relationships had variable associations on the fungal communities, as even closely related tree species had strongly differing communities during decomposition. A high number of species were unique to a single tree species and may indicate 'host-specificity' to a particular leaf litter. The overlap of microfungal species in pair wise comparisons of tree species was low (7–16%), and only 1–2% of microfungal species were observed in leaves of all tree species. The percentage of occurrences of fungal communities using Hierarchical Cluster Analyses (HCA) showed that there were at least four succession stages in each tree species during decomposition. Fungal diversity increased at the beginning of each tree species leaf decay, reached peaks, and declined at the final stages. Overall, our findings demonstrate that tree species and leaf litter chemistry are important variables in determining fungal diversity and community composition in leaf litter. Referring to the establishment of fungal discoveries from this experimental design, two new families, two new genera, 40 new species and 56 new host records were reported. This study provides a host-fungus database for future studies on these hosts and increases the knowledge of fungal diversity in leaf litter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bio-based and biodegradable plastics are considered as plastics of the future owing to their ability to decompose under various environmental conditions. However, their effects on the soil microbiome are poorly characterised. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of an important bio-based and biodegradable plastic, polybutylene succinate-co-adipate (PBSA), on soil microbial diversity and community composition using high-resolution molecular technique (Illumina sequencing) targeting all three microbial domains: archaea, bacteria, and fungi. Results: Adding high load of PBSA to soil (6% (w/w)) caused a significant decline in archaeal (13%) and fungal (45%) richness and substantial changes in both bacterial (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria) and fungal (Eurotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Leotiomycetes, and Dothideomycetes) community composition compared with no PBSA addition to soil. The combined effects of PBSA and (NH4)2SO4 fertilisation on the soil microbiome were much greater than the effects of PBSA alone. We only detected opportunistic human pathogens in low abundance on PBSA and in the surrounding soil. However, some plant pathogenic fungi were detected and/or enriched on the PBSA films and in surrounding soil. Apart from plant pathogens, many potential microbial control agents and plant growth-promoting microorganisms were also detected/enriched owing to PBSA addition. Adding high load of PBSA together with (NH4)2SO4 fertilisation can either eliminate some plant pathogens or enrich specific pathogens, especially Fusarium solani, which is economically important. Conclusions: We conclude that high load of bio-based and biodegradable PBSA plastic may negatively affect soil microbiome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides morphological descriptions and illustrations of microfungi associated with the invasive weed, Chromolaena odorata, which were mainly collected in northern Thailand. Seventy-seven taxa distributed in ten orders, 23 families (of which Neomassarinaceae is new), 12 new genera (Chromolaenicola, Chromolaenomyces, Longiappendispora, Pseudocapulatispora, Murichromolaenicola, Neoophiobolus, Paraleptospora, Pseudoroussoella, Pseudostaurosphaeria, Pseudothyridariella, Setoarthopyrenia, Xenoroussoella), 47 new species (Aplosporella chromolaenae, Arthrinium chromolaenae, Chromolaenicola chiangraiensis, C. lampangensis, C. nanensis, C. thailandensis, Chromolaenomyces appendiculatus, Diaporthe chromolaenae, Didymella chromolaenae, Dyfrolomyces chromolaenae, Leptospora chromolaenae, L. phraeana, Longiappendispora chromolaenae, Memnoniella chromolaenae, Montagnula chiangraiensis, M. chromolaenae, M. chromolaenicola, M. thailandica, Murichromolaenicola chiangraiensis, M. chromolaenae, Muyocopron chromolaenae, M. chromolaenicola, Neomassarina chromolaenae, Neoophiobolus chromolaenae, Neopyrenochaeta chiangraiensis, N. chromolaenae, N. thailandica, N. triseptatispora, Nigrograna chromolaenae, Nothophoma chromolaenae, Paraleptospora chromolaenae, P. chromolaenicola, Patellaria chromolaenae, Pseudocapulatispora longiappendiculata, Pseudoroussoella chromolaenae, Pseudostaurosphaeria chromolaenae, P. chromolaenicola, Pseudothyridariella chromolaenae, Pyrenochaetopsis chromolaenae, Rhytidhysteron chromolaenae, Setoarthopyrenia chromolaenae, Sphaeropsis chromolaenicola, Tremateia chiangraiensis, T. chromolaenae, T. thailandensis, Xenoroussoella triseptata, Yunnanensis chromolaenae), 12 new host records, three new taxonomic combinations (Chromolaenicola siamensis, Pseudoroussoella elaeicola, Pseudothyridariella mahakashae), and two reference specimens (Torula chromolaenae, T. fici) are described and illustrated. Unlike some other hosts, e.g. bamboo (Poaceae) and Pandanaceae, the dominant group of fungi on Siam weed were Dothideomycetes. Only 15 species previously recorded from northern Thailand were found in this study. Most of the taxa are likely to have jumped hosts from surrounding plants and are unlikely to be a specialist to Siam weed. Most fungal families found on Siam weed had divergence estimates with stem ages in the Cretaceous, which coincided with the expected origin of the host family (Asteraceae). This further indicates that the species have jumped hosts, as it is unlikely that the taxa on the alien Siam weed came from the Americas with its host. They may, however, have jumped from other Asteraceae hosts. In a preliminary screening 40 (65%) of the 62 species tested showed antimicrobial activity and thus, the fungi associated with C. odorata may be promising sources of novel bioactive compound discovery. We provide a checklist of fungi associated with C. odorata based on the USDA Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory (SMML) database, relevant literature and our study. In total, 130 taxa (116 identified and 14 unidentified species) are distributed in 20 orders, 48 families, and 85 genera. Pseudocercospora is the most commonly encountered genus on Siam weed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The home-field advantage (HFA) hypothesis has been used intensively to study leaf litter decomposition in various ecosystems. However, the HFA in woody substrates is still unexplored. Here, we reanalyzed and integrated existing datasets on various groups of microorganisms collected from natural deadwood of two temperate trees, Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies, from forests in which one or other of these species dominates but where both are present. Our aims were (i) to test the HFA hypothesis on wood decomposition rates of these two temperate tree species, and (ii) to investigate if HFA hypothesis can be explained by diversity and community composition of bacteria and in detail N-fixing bacteria (as determined by molecular 16S rRNA and nifH gene amplification) and fungi (as determined by molecular ITS rRNA amplification and sporocarp surveys). Our results showed that wood decomposition rates were accelerated at "home" versus "away" by 38.19% ± 20.04% (mean ± SE). We detected strong changes in fungal richness (increase 36–50%) and community composition (RANOSIM = 0.52–0.60, P < 0.05) according to HFA hypothesis. The changes of fungi were much stronger than for total bacteria and nitrogen fixing for both at richness and community composition levels. In conclusion, our results support the HFA hypothesis in deadwood: decomposition rate is accelerated at home due to specialization of fungal communities produced by the plant community above them. Furthermore, the higher richness of fungal sporocarps and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (nifH) may stimulate or at least stabilize wood decomposition rates at "home" versus "away." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advantages and disadvantages of giving a valid name to a sequence of DNA detected from environmental specimens is presently a hot debate amongst the mycological community. The idea of using intracellular DNA (“mgDNA”) from environmental samples as holotypes seems at face value, to be a good idea, considering the expansion of knowledge among these ‘dark taxa’ or ‘dark matter fungi’ that it could provide (i.e. sequence based taxa without physical specimens and formal nomenclature). However, the limitations of using mgDNA as holotypes needs careful thought, i.e. can we use a short mgDNA fragment, which may contain a small amount of genetic information, to allow discrimination between species? What is the point and are the potential problems of giving valid scientific names to mgDNA? Numerous mycologists and taxonomists, who have many years of experience working on the taxonomy and phylogeny of different groups of fungi, are concerned about the consequences of providing valid names to mgDNA. There has been much debate, through several publications on the considerable problems of using mgDNA as holotypes. The proponents have tried to debate the virtues of using mgDNA as holotypes. Those against have shown that identification to species using mgDNA does not work in many fungal groups, while those for have shown cases where species can be identified with mgDNA. Different disciplines have different reasons and opinions for using mgDNA as holotypes, however even groups of the same disciplines have dissimilar ideas. In this paper we explore the use of mgDNA as holotypes. We provide evidences and opinions as to the use of mgDNA as holotypes from our own experiences. In no way do we attempt to degrade the study of DNA from environmental samples and the expansion of knowledge in to the dark taxa, but relate the issues to fungal taxonomy. In fact we show the value of using sequence data from these approaches, in dealing with the discovery of already named taxa, taxa numbers and ecological roles. We discuss the advantages and the pitfalls of using mgDNA from environmental samples as holotypes. The impacts of expanding the nomenclatural concept to allow using mgDNA from environmental samples as holotypes are also discussed. We provide evidence from case studies on Botryosphaeria, Colletotrichum, Penicillium and Xylaria. The case studies show that we cannot use mgDNA due to their short fragments and the fact that most ITS sequence data presently result from environmental sequencing. We conclude from the evidence that it is highly undesirable to use mgDNA as holotypes in naming fungal species. If this approach adopted, it would result in numerous problems where species identification cannot be confirmed due to limited sequence data available for the holotypes. We also propose an alternative DNA-based system for naming DNA based species which would provide considerably less problems and should be adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grapevines (Vitis vinifera) are colonized by ubiquitous microorganisms known as endophytes, which may have advantageous or neutral effects without causing disease symptoms. Certain endophytes are uncultivable, so culture-independent approaches such as next generation sequencing (NGS) can help for a better understanding of their ecology and distribution. To date, there are no studies which directly link NGS results with taxa derived from a culturing approach, integrating morphological and multi-gene phylogenetic analysis of endophytes. In this study, a culture-dependent and high-resolution culture-independent approach (next generation sequencing) were used to identify endophytes in grapevine stems. In the culture-dependent approach, a total of 94 isolates were recovered from 84 of 144 healthy grapevine stem fragments (colonization rate = 58.3%). The study is unique as we used subsets of combined multi-gene regions to identify the endophytes to species level. Based on each multi-gene phylogenetic analysis, 28 species belong to 19 genera (Acremonium, Alternaria, Arthrinium, Ascorhizoctonia, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Bipolaris, Botryosphaeria, Botrytis, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Curvularia, Hypoxylon, Lasiodiplodia, Mycosphaerella, Nigrospora, Penicillium, Phoma, Scopulariopsis) were identified. A higher number of culturable fungi were obtained from 13 year-old vines, followed by eight and three year-old vines. In the culture-independent approach, a fungal richness of 59 operational taxonomic units (OTU) was detected, being highest in 13 year-old grapevines, followed by eight and three years. Even though the cultivation approach detected lower fungal richness, the results related to stem are consistent for fungal community composition and richness. Comparison of the fungal taxa identified by the two approaches resulted in an overlap of 53% of the fungal genera. Due to interspecific variability of the sequences from NGS, in many cases the OTUs (even with the highly abundant ones) were only assignable to order, family or genus level. Incorporating multi-gene phylogenies we successfully identified many of the NGS derived OTUs with poor taxonomic information in reference databases to the genus or species levels. Hence, this study signifies the importance of applying both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to study the fungal endophytic community composition in Vitis vinifera. This principle could also be applied to other host species and ecosystem level studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is unique as it compares traditional and high-resolution culture-independent approaches using the same set of samples to study the saprotrophic fungi on Vitis vinifera. We identified the saprotrophic communities of table grape (Red Globe) and wine grape (Carbanate Gernischet) in China using both traditional and culture-independent techniques. The traditional approach used direct observations based on morphology, single spore isolation and phylogenetic analysis yielding 45 taxa which 19 were commonly detected in both cultivars. The same set of samples were then used for Illumina sequencing which analyzed ITS1 sequence data and detected 226 fungal OTUs, of which 176 and 189 belong to the cultivars Carbanate Gernischet and Red Globe, respectively. There were 139 OTUs shared between the two V. vinifera cultivars and 37 and 50 OTUs were specific to Carbanate Gernischet and Red Globe cultivars respectively. In the Carbanate Gernischet cultivar, Ascomycota accounted for 77% of the OTUs and in Red Globe, almost all sequenced were Ascomycota. The fungal taxa overlap at the genus and species level between the traditional and culture-independent approach was relatively low. In the traditional approach we were able to identify the taxa to species level, while in the culture-independent method we were frequently able to identify the taxa to family or genus level. This is remarkable as we used the same set of samples collected in China for both approaches. We recommend the use of traditional techniques to accurately identify taxa. Culture-independent method can be used to get a better understanding about the organisms that are present in a host in its natural environment. We identified primary and secondary plant pathogens and endophytes in the saprotrophic fungal communities, which support previous observations, that dead plant material in grape vineyards can be the primary sources of disease. Finally, based on present and previous findings, we provide a worldwide checklist of 905 fungal taxa on Vitis species, which includes their mode of life and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils harbor a huge diversity of microorganisms that participate in various biogeochemical cycles and influence soil fertility. Our knowledge of soil microbiota, however, is limited by the complexity and heterogeneity of soil habitats and the huge microbial diversity. In this study, fertilized and unfertilized soils from a long-term fertilization experiment were gamma-sterilized before self- or cross-inoculation with non-sterilized soil aliquots containing their respective microbial communities. Bacterial community dynamics resulting from each reinoculated treatment was monitored over 90 days using B-ARISA. This study design allowed us to assess the respective influences of two driving factors, original community and soil nutrient availability, on microbial community assemblage dynamics. For all treatments, the bacterial communities that evolved in the sterilized soils differed from those in the original soils and displayed dynamic shifts over time. These shifts were particularly illustrated by the appearance of numerous OTUs that were undetectable in the original soils and suggest that community assembly is primarily determined by niche factors. However, stronger community shifts and higher variations among the replicates were observed after reinoculation of nutrient-rich soil, suggesting an increased impact of stochastic processes on community assembly. Our results demonstrate that reinoculation-based approaches are not only valid for detecting a variety of low abundant soil bacteria but also for distinguishing the soil characteristics and ecological rules that shape soil microbial population assemblage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi play vital roles in the decomposition of deadwood due to their secretion of various enzymes that break down plant cell-wall complexes. The compositions of wood-inhabiting fungal (WIF) communities change over the course of the decomposition process as the remaining mass of wood decreases and both abiotic and biotic conditions of the wood significantly change. It is currently not resolved which substrate-related factors govern these changes in WIF communities and whether such changes influence the deadwood decomposition rate. Here we report a study on fungal richness and community structure in deadwood of Norway spruce and European beech in temperate forest ecosystems using 454 pyrosequencing. Our aims were to disentangle the factors that correspond to WIF community composition and to investigate the links between fungal richness, taxonomically-resolved fungal identity, and microbial-mediated ecosystem functions and processes by analyzing physico-chemical wood properties, lignin-modifying enzyme activities and wood decomposition rates. Unlike fungal richness, we found significant differences in community structure between deadwood of different tree species. The composition of WIF communities was related to the physico-chemical properties of the deadwood substrates. Decomposition rates and the activities of lignin-modifying enzymes were controlled by the succession of the fungal communities and competition scenarios rather than fungal OTU richness. Our results provide further insights into links between fungal community structure and microbial-mediated ecosystem functions and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest management practices (FMPs) significantly influence important ecological processes and services in Central European forests, such as leaf litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Changes in leaf litter diversity, and thus, its quality as well as microbial community structure and function induced by different FMPs were hypothesized to be the main drivers causing shifts in decomposition rates and nutrient release in managed forests. In a litterbag experiment lasting 473 days, we aimed to investigate the effects of FMPs (even-aged timber management, selective logging and unmanaged) on bacterial and fungal communities involved in leaf litter degradation over time. Our results showed that microbial communities in leaf litter were strongly influenced by both FMPs and sampling date. The results from nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination revealed distinct patterns of bacterial and fungal successions over time in leaf litter. We demonstrated that FMPs and sampling dates can influence a range of factors, including leaf litter quality, microbial macronutrients, and pH, which significantly correlate with microbial community successions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread paradigm in ecology that community structure determines function has recently been challenged by the high complexity of microbial communities. Here, we investigate the patterns of and connections between microbial community structure and microbially-mediated ecological function across different forest management practices and temporal changes in leaf litter across beech forest ecosystems in Central Europe. Our results clearly indicate distinct pattern of microbial community structure in response to forest management and time. However, those patterns were not reflected when potential enzymatic activities of microbes were measured. We postulate that in our forest ecosystems, a disconnect between microbial community structure and function may be present due to differences between the drivers of microbial growth and those of microbial function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced biodiversity change impairs ecosystem functions crucial to human well-being. However, the consequences of this change for ecosystem multifunctionality are poorly understood beyond effects of plant species loss, particularly in regions with high biodiversity across trophic levels. Here we adopt a multitrophic perspective to analyze how biodiversity affects multifunctionality in biodiverse subtropical forests. We consider 22 independent measurements of nine ecosystem functions central to energy and nutrient flow across trophic levels. We find that individual functions and multifunctionality are more strongly affected by the diversity of heterotrophs promoting decomposition and nutrient cycling, and by plant functional-trait diversity and composition, than by tree species richness. Moreover, cascading effects of higher trophic-level diversity on functions originating from lower trophic-level processes highlight that multitrophic biodiversity is key to understanding drivers of multifunctionality. A broader perspective on biodiversity-multifunctionality relationships is crucial for sustainable ecosystem management in light of non-random species loss and intensified biotic disturbances under future environmental change. Biodiversity change can impact ecosystem functioning, though this is primarily studied at lower trophic levels. Here, Schuldt et al. find that biodiversity components other than tree species richness are particularly important, and higher trophic level diversity plays a role in multifunctionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree species identity and tree genotypes contribute to the shaping of soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about how these two factors influence soil ecosystem functions is still lacking. Furthermore, in forest ecosystems tree genotypes co-occur and interact with each other, thus the effects of tree genotypic diversity on soil ecosystem functions merit attention. Here we investigated the effects of tree species, tree genotypes and genotypic diversity levels, alongside soil physicochemical properties, on the overall and specific soil enzyme activity patterns. Our results indicate that tree species identity, tree genotypes and genotypic diversity level have significant influences on overall and specific soil enzyme activity patterns. These three factors influence soil enzyme patterns partly through effects on soil physicochemical properties and substrate quality. Variance partitioning showed that tree species identity, genotypic diversity level, pH and water content all together explained ~30% variations in the overall patterns of soil enzymes. However, we also found that the responses of soil ecosystem functions to tree genotypes and genotypic diversity are complex, being dependent on tree species identity and controlled by multiple factors. Our study highlights the important of inter- and intra-specific variations in tree species in shaping soil ecosystem functions in a subtropical forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]