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  • Mast seeding in European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) is associated with reduced fungal sporocarp production and community diversity
Title: Mast seeding in European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) is associated with reduced fungal sporocarp production and community diversity
Abstract Mast seeding is a well‐documented phenomenon across diverse forest ecosystems. While its effect on aboveground food webs has been thoroughly studied, how it impacts the soil fungi that drive soil carbon and nutrient cycling has not yet been explored. To evaluate the relationship between mast seeding and fungal resource availability, we paired a Swiss 29‐year fungal sporocarp census with contemporaneous seed production for European beech (Fagus sylvaticaL.). On average, mast seeding was associated with a 55% reduction in sporocarp production and a compositional community shift towards drought‐tolerant taxa across both ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic guilds. Among ectomycorrhizal fungi, traits associated with carbon cost did not explain species' sensitivity to seed production. Together, our results support a novel hypothesis that mast seeding limits annual resource availability and reproductive investment in soil fungi, creating an ecosystem ‘rhythm’ to forest processes that is synchronized above‐ and belowground.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2129312
PAR ID:
10547227
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Afkhami, Michelle
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Ecology Letters
Volume:
27
Issue:
6
ISSN:
1461-023X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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