Evidence that chytrids dominate fungal communities in high-elevation soils

Freeman, Kristen R.; Martin, Andrew P.; Karki, Debendra; Lynch, Ryan C.; Mitter, M. S.; Meyer, Annabel; Longcore, Joyce E.; Simmons, D. Rabern; Schmidt, Steven K.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0907303106

Cited by 169 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…), and along the continental divide in Colorado. Out of these environmental sequencing surveys significant numbers of Naganishia species were only found at the highest sites sampled in Colorado (Freeman et al 2009). Importantly, these sites were also the only sampled sites (among the global sites listed above) that had soil pH values (pH 4.5) similar to those found on the three volcanoes (Table 1).…”

Section: Landscape Patterns Of Naganishia Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

et al. 2017

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Here, we review the current state of knowledge concerning high-elevation members of the extremophilic Cryptococcus albidus clade (now classified as the genus Naganishia). These fungi dominate eukaryotic microbial communities across the highest elevation, soil-like material (tephra) on volcanoes such as Llullaillaco, Socompa, and Saírecabur in the Atacama region of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Recent studies indicate that Naganishia species are among the most resistant organisms to UV radiation, and a strain of N. friedmannii from Volcán Llullaillaco is the first organism that is known to grow during the extreme, diurnal freeze-thaw cycles that occur on a continuous basis at elevations above 6000 m.a.s.l. in the Atacama region. These and other extremophilic traits discussed in this review may serve a dual purpose of allowing Naganishia species to survive long-distance transport through the atmosphere and to survive the extreme conditions found at high elevations. Current evidence indicates that there are frequent dispersal events between high-elevation volcanoes of Atacama region and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica via “Rossby Wave” merging of the polar and sub-tropical jet streams. This dispersal hypothesis needs further verification, as does the hypothesis that Naganishia species are flexible “opportunitrophs” that can grow during rare periods of water (from melting snow) and nutrient availability (from Aeolian inputs) in one of the most extreme terrestrial habitats on Earth.

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Section: Landscape Patterns Of Naganishia Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

et al. 2017

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“…The program MOTHUR v. 1.8.0 [23] was used to calculate the genetic distance matrices, and the Mantel tests were performed in R (http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/ade4html/mantel.rtest.html). Microbial biomass levels were measured using the chloroform fumigation method and other soil parameters were measured using standard methods as described elsewhere [5,14,15,24]. Algal and cyanobacterial counts were done using epifluorescence microscopy as described elsewhere [25].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our preliminary work in the Himalayas and similar sites in other high mountain ranges with prominent subnival zones [5,14,15] indicated that these sites had many environmental and ecological attributes similar to those of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Yet there have been no comparative studies of these ecologically similar but geographically distant systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeography of microbial phototrophs in the dry valleys of the high Himalayas and Antarctica

et al. 2010

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High-elevation valleys in dry areas of the Himalayas are among the most extreme, yet least explored environments on Earth. These barren, rocky valleys are subjected to year-round temperature fluctuations across the freezing point and very low availability of water and nutrients, causing previous workers to hypothesize that no photoautotrophic life (primary producers) exists in these locations. However, there has been no work using modern biogeochemical or culture-independent molecular methods to test the hypothesis that photoautotrophs are absent from high Himalayan soil systems. Here, we show that although microbial biomass levels are as low as those of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, there are abundant microbial photoautotrophs, displaying unexpected phylogenetic diversity, in barren soils from just below the permanent ice line of the central Himalayas. Furthermore, we discovered that one of the dominant algal clades from the high Himalayas also contains the dominant algae in culture-independent surveys of both soil and ice samples from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, revealing an unexpected link between these environmentally similar but geographically very distant systems. Phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses demonstrated that although this algal clade is globally distributed to other high-altitude and high-latitude soils, it shows significant genetic isolation by geographical distance patterns, indicating local adaptation and perhaps speciation in each region. Our results are the first to demonstrate the remarkable similarities of microbial life of arid soils of Antarctica and the high Himalayas. Our findings are a starting point for future comparative studies of the dry valleys of the Himalayas and Antarctica that will yield new insights into the cold and dry limits to life on Earth.

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“…Our calculations show that soil primary production inputs of approximately 10 800 kg C yr −1 (calculated using the production rate of 240 kg C ha −1 yr −1 from Freeman et al (2009b) over 20 % of the watershed) are indeed higher than atmospheric inputs, as suggested by Freeman et al (2009b). For barren soils, respiration C losses were calculated at approximately 12 600 kg C yr −1 , using an average 2002 summer season respiration rate of 56 kg C ha −1 yr −1 (0.013 g C m −2 h −1 ; Freeman et al, 2009a), estimated to also occur for 90 d and over 20 % of the watershed area. According to Caine (1995, and references therein), roughly 20 % of the catchment also comprises lowlying vegetation.…”

Section: Relevance Of Atmospheric Wet and Dry Deposition Inputs For Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alpine heterotrophic bacteria such as Polaromonas, found at Niwot Ridge and other barren alpine environments, can oxidize even recalcitrant carbon sources (Darcy et al, 2011 and references therein). At Niwot Ridge, chytrids have been found to dominate the fungal biodiversity (Freeman et al, 2009a) and are known to be partially supported by aeolian inputs, such as pollen. Therefore, the importance of atmospheric organic C inputs for these and other alpine organisms is a key question for future research.…”

Section: Chemical Quality Of Oc In Atmospheric Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric deposition as a source of carbon and nutrients to an alpine catchment of the Colorado Rocky Mountains

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Many alpine areas are experiencing deglaciation, biogeochemical changes driven by temperature rise, and changes in atmospheric deposition. There is mounting evidence that the water quality of alpine streams may be related to these changes, including rising atmospheric deposition of carbon (C) and nutrients. Given that barren alpine soils can be severely C limited, atmospheric deposition sources may be an important source of C and nutrients for these environments. We evaluated the magnitude of atmospheric deposition of C and nutrients to an alpine site, the Green Lake 4 catchment in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Using a long-term dataset (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) of weekly atmospheric wet deposition and snowpack chemistry, we found that volume weighted mean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were 1.12 ± 0.19 mg l −1 , and weekly concentrations reached peaks as high at 6-10 mg l −1 every summer. Total dissolved nitrogen concentration also peaked in the summer, whereas total dissolved phosphorus and calcium concentrations were highest in the spring. To investigate potential sources of C in atmospheric deposition, we evaluated the chemical quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and relationships between DOM and other solutes in wet deposition. Relationships between DOC concentration, fluorescence, and nitrate and sulfate concentrations suggest that pollutants from nearby urban and agricultural sources and organic aerosols derived from sub-alpine vegetation may influence high summer DOC wet deposition concentrations. Interestingly, high DOC concentrations were also recorded during "dust-in-snow" events in the spring, which may reflect an association of DOM with dust. Detailed chemical and spectroscopic analyses conducted for samples collected in 2010 revealed that the DOM in many late spring and summer samples was less aromatic and polydisperse and of lower molecular weight than that of winter and fall samples. Our C budget estimates for the Green Lake 4 catchment illustrated that wet deposition (9.9 kg C ha −1 yr −1 ) and dry deposition (6.9 kg C ha −1 yr −1 ) were a combined input of approximately 17 kg C ha −1 yr −1 , which could be as high as 24 kg C ha −1 yr −1 in high dust years. This atmospheric C input approached the C input from microbial autotrophic production in barren soils. Atmospheric wet and dry deposition also contributed 4.3 kg N ha −1 yr −1 , 0.15 kg P ha −1 yr −1 , and 2.7 kg Ca 2+ ha −1 yr −1 to this alpine catchment.

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Evidence that chytrids dominate fungal communities in high-elevation soils

Cited by 169 publications

References 42 publications

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

Phylogeography of microbial phototrophs in the dry valleys of the high Himalayas and Antarctica

Atmospheric deposition as a source of carbon and nutrients to an alpine catchment of the Colorado Rocky Mountains

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