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1. Fungal functional ecology: bringing a trait‐based approach to plant‐associated fungi

   https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12570  

   Zanne, Amy_E; Abarenkov, Kessy; Afkhami, Michelle_E; Aguilar‐Trigueros, Carlos_A; Bates, Scott; Bhatnagar, Jennifer_M; Busby, Posy_E; Christian, Natalie; Cornwell, William_K; Crowther, Thomas_W; et al (November 2019, Biological Reviews)

   ABSTRACT Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro‐organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function.Trait‐based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and ‐omics‐based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (Fun^Fun). Fun^Funis built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait‐based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology. 

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2. Multiple distinct, scale‐dependent links between fungi and decomposition

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13749  

   Smith, Gabriel_Reuben; Peay, Kabir_G; Bardgett, ed., Richard (April 2021, Ecology Letters)

   Abstract Decomposition has historically been considered a function of climate and substrate but new research highlights the significant role of specific micro‐organisms and their interactions. In particular, wood decay is better predicted by variation in fungal communities than in climate. Multiple links exist: interspecific competition slows decomposition in more diverse fungal communities, whereas trait variation between different communities also affects process rates. Here, we paired field and laboratory experiments using a dispersal gradient at a forest‐shrubland ecotone to examine how fungi affect wood decomposition across scales. We observed that while fungal communities closer to forests were capable of faster decomposition, wood containing diverse fungal communities decomposed more slowly, independent of location. Dispersal‐driven stochasticity in small‐scale community assembly was nested within large‐scale turnover in the regional species pool, decoupling the two patterns. We thus find multiple distinct links between microbes and ecosystem function that manifest across different spatial scales. 

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3. Long-Term Ecological Research and Evolving Frameworks of Disturbance Ecology

   https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz162  

   Gaiser, Evelyn E; Bell, David M; Castorani, Max C; Childers, Daniel L; Groffman, Peter M; Jackson, C Rhett; Kominoski, John S; Peters, Debra P; Pickett, Steward T; Ripplinger, Julie; et al (January 2020, BioScience)

   Abstract Detecting and understanding disturbance is a challenge in ecology that has grown more critical with global environmental change and the emergence of research on social–ecological systems. We identify three areas of research need: developing a flexible framework that incorporates feedback loops between social and ecological systems, anticipating whether a disturbance will change vulnerability to other environmental drivers, and incorporating changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. In the present article, we review how discoveries from the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have influenced theoretical paradigms in disturbance ecology, and we refine a framework for describing social–ecological disturbance that addresses these three challenges. By operationalizing this framework for seven LTER sites spanning distinct biomes, we show how disturbance can maintain or alter ecosystem state, drive spatial patterns at landscape scales, influence social–ecological interactions, and cause divergent outcomes depending on other environmental changes. 

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4. Toward a Social-Ecological Theory of Forest Macrosystems for Improved Ecosystem Management

   https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/f9040200  

   Kleindl, W; Stoy, P; Binford, M; Desai, A; Dietze, M; Schultz, C; Starr, G; Staudhammer, C; Wood, D. (April 2018, Forest)

   The implications of cumulative land-use decisions and shifting climate on forests, require us to integrate our understanding of ecosystems, markets, policy, and resource management into a social-ecological system. Humans play a central role in macrosystem dynamics, which complicates ecological theories that do not explicitly include human interactions. These dynamics also impact ecological services and related markets, which challenges economic theory. Here, we use two forest macroscale management initiatives to develop a theoretical understanding of how management interacts with ecological functions and services at these scales and how the multiple large-scale management goals work either in consort or conflict with other forest functions and services. We suggest that calling upon theories developed for organismal ecology, ecosystem ecology, and ecological economics adds to our understanding of social-ecological macrosystems. To initiate progress, we propose future research questions to add rigor to macrosystem-scale studies: (1) What are the ecosystem functions that operate at macroscales, their necessary structural components, and how do we observe them? (2) How do systems at one scale respond if altered at another scale? (3) How do we both effectively measure these components and interactions, and communicate that information in a meaningful manner for policy and management across different scales? 

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5. The future of fungi: threats and opportunities

   https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac224  

   Case, Nicola T; Berman, Judith; Blehert, David S; Cramer, Robert A; Cuomo, Christina; Currie, Cameron R; Ene, Iuliana V; Fisher, Matthew C; Fritz-Laylin, Lillian K; Gerstein, Aleeza C; et al (September 2022, G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics)

   Andrews, B (Ed.)

   Abstract The fungal kingdom represents an extraordinary diversity of organisms with profound impacts across animal, plant, and ecosystem health. Fungi simultaneously support life, by forming beneficial symbioses with plants and producing life-saving medicines, and bring death, by causing devastating diseases in humans, plants, and animals. With climate change, increased antimicrobial resistance, global trade, environmental degradation, and novel viruses altering the impact of fungi on health and disease, developing new approaches is now more crucial than ever to combat the threats posed by fungi and to harness their extraordinary potential for applications in human health, food supply, and environmental remediation. To address this aim, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund convened a workshop to unite leading experts on fungal biology from academia and industry to strategize innovative solutions to global challenges and fungal threats. This report provides recommendations to accelerate fungal research and highlights the major research advances and ideas discussed at the meeting pertaining to 5 major topics: (1) Connections between fungi and climate change and ways to avert climate catastrophe; (2) Fungal threats to humans and ways to mitigate them; (3) Fungal threats to agriculture and food security and approaches to ensure a robust global food supply; (4) Fungal threats to animals and approaches to avoid species collapse and extinction; and (5) Opportunities presented by the fungal kingdom, including novel medicines and enzymes. 

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