Studies on diversity of soil microfungi in the Hornsund area, Spitsbergen

Wei

et al. 2015

Sci Rep

This study assessed the diversity and distribution of fungal communities associated with seven lichen species in the Ny-Ålesund Region (Svalbard, High Arctic) using Roche 454 pyrosequencing with fungal-specific primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal rRNA gene. Lichen-associated fungal communities showed high diversity, with a total of 42,259 reads belonging to 370 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) being found. Of these OTUs, 294 belonged to Ascomycota, 54 to Basidiomycota, 2 to Zygomycota, and 20 to unknown fungi. Leotiomycetes, Dothideomycetes, and Eurotiomycetes were the major classes, whereas the dominant orders were Helotiales, Capnodiales, and Chaetothyriales. Interestingly, most fungal OTUs were closely related to fungi from various habitats (e.g., soil, rock, plant tissues) in the Arctic, Antarctic and alpine regions, which suggests that living in association with lichen thalli may be a transient stage of life cycle for these fungi and that long-distance dispersal may be important to the fungi in the Arctic. In addition, host-related factors shaped the lichen-associated fungal communities in this region. Taken together, these results suggest that lichens thalli act as reservoirs of diverse fungi from various niches, which may improve our understanding of fungal evolution and ecology in the Arctic.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and distribution of lichen-associated fungi in the Ny-Ålesund Region (Svalbard, High Arctic) as revealed by 454 pyrosequencing

Wei

et al. 2015

Sci Rep

“…In spite of this, both sites are, at present, overgrown by a well-developed moss-lichen tundra with a large number of vascular plants. This is likely due to the high moisture regime and strong ornithogenic fertilization at these sites, both of which are crucial factors in the development of nutrient-rich soil [31,32].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and distribution of lichens in recently deglaciated areas of southeastern Spitsbergen

et al. 2018

Self Cite

The diversity and distribution of lichen species were investigated in recently deglaciated areas of the borderland between Sørkapp Land and Torell Land (southeastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard). A total of 15 sites representing various habitat types specific to the area were evaluated. Sampling sites were characterized by a very diverse composition of lichens and species richness ranging from as few as two species to as many as 53. None of the species was ubiquitous among the investigated sampling sites; conversely, most were recorded only once or twice indicating a high heterogeneity in species distribution. Eighty species are reported for the first time from southeastern Spitsbergen. The terricolous lichen <em>Verrucaria xyloxena</em> is reported for the first time from the Svalbard archipelago. The influence of the selected abiotic and biotic environmental factors on the occurrences and distributions of lichen species is discussed in this paper.

“…According to Lombard et al (2011) some highly condensed samples (such as soil) are challenging for extraction and their subsequent analyses (even in case of metagenomics analyses). The environmental extremes distinctive for polar regions (such as low temperature, dryness, exposure to UV-radiation, and organic matter deficiency) additionally result in low microbial diversity present in samples (Ali et al 2013). Concluding, some natural enrichment must be present in the studied samples prior the sampling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Polish Polar Research

Ogórek,

Suchodolski,

Dudek

2022

Fungi are highly diverse, yet only a minor part of the total estimated species has been cultured and characterized. This might be especially true for Arctic, where studies on the fungal diversity are still scarce. For that reason, our aim was to analyze fungal diversity in the droppings of Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus. The samples of feces from 32 adult individuals were collected in the southern or central parts of the Wedel Jarlsberg Land (Spitsbergen, Svalbard Archipelago) and assessed for micromycetes diversity using a combination of classical and molecular identification approaches. We found 16 fungal species, out of which three were described as mesophilic, two as psychrotolerant and eleven as psychrophilic. The identified Arctic fungi belonged to eleven genera out of which representatives of Naganishia genus (formerly belonging to Cryptococcus albidus clade) were the most abundant fungal species isolated. Additionally, to our knowledge, we firstly recorded Botrytis cinerea in polar areas. We conclude that droppings of R. tarandus platyrhynchus are a source of different fungal taxa, including fungi potentially pathogenic towards humans, plants and insects.