Biogeosciences and Forestry Biogeosciences and Forestry Soil fungal communities across land use types Sujan Balami (1) , Martina Vašutová (1-2) , Douglas Godbold (2-3) , Petr Kotas (4) , Pavel Cudlín (2) Land use change is one of the major causes of biodiversity loss, mostly due to habitat change and fragmentation. Belowground fungal diversity is very important in terrestrial ecosystems, however, the effect of land use change on soil fungal community is poorly understood. In this review, a total of 190 studies worldwide were analyzed. To monitor the effect of land use change, different fungal parameters such as richness, diversity, community composition, root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, spore density, ergosterol, and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) content and AM fungal glomalin related soil protein (GRSP) were studied. In general, results from analyzed studies often showed a negative response of fungal quantitative parameters after land use change from less-intensive site management to intensive site management. Land use change mostly showed significant shifts in fungal community composition. Considering land use change types, only 18 out of 91 land use change types were included in more than 10 studies, conversion of primary and secondary forest to various, more intensive land use was most often represented. All these 18 types of land use change influenced fungal community composition, however, the effects on quantitative parameters were mostly inconsistent. Current knowledge is not sufficient to conclude general land use impacts on soil fungi as the reviewed studies are fragmented and limited by the local context of land use change. Unification of the methodology, detailed descriptions of environmental factors, more reference sequences in public databases, and especially data on ecology and quantitative parameters of key fungal species would significantly improve the understanding of this issue.

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Carbon stock variation among trees of planted forest, was estimated in a 41-year old Coronation garden of Kathmandu, Central Nepal. Forty-one square quadrates of 20 m × 20 m were selected by applying stratified systematic sampling method in three horizontal strata of the forest. The biomass of trees was estimated using an allometric equation which was later converted to the carbon stock by using carbon fraction. The study site stored 196.4 Mg C ha -1 (carbon sequestration rate: 4.78 Mg ha -1 yr -1 ) equivalent to 720.7 Mg CO 2 ha -1 (CO 2 assimilation rate: 17.58 Mg ha -1 yr -1 ). Eucalyptus citriodora had the highest carbon storage (54.6 Mg ha -1 , 27.8%) and sequestration rate (1.33 Mg ha -1 yr -1 ). Cinnamomum camphora and Salix babylonica were the dominant tree species, while Salicaceae and Lauraceae were the dominant families growing in the forest. Myrtaceae was the dominant family in terms of carbon storage and carbon sequestration rate. The study suggests that E. citriodora, C. camphora, S. babylonica and P. roxburghii would be the best species to select for forest plantation which would yield large impacts on landscape-level carbon stocks and could also mitigate climate change.

Belowground modification of soil microbial community by invasive plants is well evident. Similar instances of Ageratina adenophora invasion have been reported. This study was aimed to determine the effect of A. adenophora invasion on species richness, species or community composition and occurrence frequency of soil fungi. These  parameters were analyzed using culture method on invaded and uninvaded soils. Species richness of soil fungi was lower in the A. adenophora invaded soil compared to the uninvaded soil. The occurrence frequency of particular fungi  was different for those two soil conditions. A. adenophora also altered soil fungi species composition in the invaded soil by replacing saprophytic fungi and accumulating pathogenic fungi. Thus, A. adenophora is associated to lower species richness of saprophytic soil fungi and high occurrence frequency of pathogenic soil fungi. This study concluded that the invasive A. adenophora modifies belowground soil fungi communities as one of the mechanisms involved in the successful invasion of A. adenophora.

There are numbers of invasive and naturalized alien species in Nepal but studies related to herbivory effects on such species are scarce. An issue of debate is whether invasive alien species get benefited by less herbivory damage in their introduced range. In this study, we investigated the level of herbivory damage in Alnus nepalensis in an area invaded by Ageratina adenophora in Nepal. The damage was compared between invasive A. adenophora and native Alnus nepalensis. Results showed that A. adenophora experienced lower level of leaf damage by herbivores than that of A. nepalensis. This indicated that the invasive A. adenophora might have benefited from reduced herbivory damage behind its successful invasion in Nepalese forest. Further studies are needed to confirm whether controlling of herbivores to lessen the damage in native Alnus nepalensis could enhance its competitive ability against Ageratina adenophora in native vegetation of Nepal.Botanica Orientalis – Journal of Plant Science (2017) 11: 7–11